


Delicate Air

by Spirit_Wolf



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: BAMF Natasha Romanov, BAMF Pepper Potts, Character Death, Civil War is the Aunt that nobody likes, Clint Barton is a child, Everyone loves Peter, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Mama Spider, Movie Nights, Peter Parker Has a Family, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter bisaster Parker makes an appearance, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Clint Barton, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, SO FLUFFY, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, infinity war? I don’t know her, kind of minor kind of really not, kinda shit at the beginning whoops, lots of emotions, lots of fluff, rated for language, spiderbros, there's a bit of angst sorry, weird timeline sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-06-25 13:55:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 62,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15642120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spirit_Wolf/pseuds/Spirit_Wolf
Summary: Peter Parker was the type of person you would see walking down the street whistling a tune that was popular in the early 90’sHe was also the person who put on red spandex and swung from building to building, stopping robberies and occasionally assisting old ladies across the street.





	1. Chapter 1

Peter Parker was the type of person you would see in a family movie, striding down the street, whistling a tune from a song that was popular in the early ’90s. Hell, Peter Parker would smile and wave at a dog that was trying to kill him from the other side of a neighbors fence. He was also the person who put on red spandex and stopped muggers and occasionally assisted old ladies across the street. He was also the kid who got straight A’s in classes, who had 2 friends and a bully with a stupid name, and who got invited as an in-training avenger a little over a week ago and had stupidly said, “I’ll think about it,"

Which is probably the stupidest answer any human being could give, because who turns down an _offer_ to be an _Avenger_?

Peter Parker, apparently. He can't even remember half of the conversation he had with Tony Stark, probably because he was too busy being starstruck and nervous to be exposed by his own hero.

He could always contact Tony and say yes, but he was a socially awkward teen who couldn’t pick up a phone and say hi to another person who just happened to be a genius, that just happened to be a hero. And he said, “I’ll think about it.”

Ned was sitting next to him, whispering his name quietly and he finally looked up as his friend tapped on his shoulder, then he realized everyone was staring at him. Including the teacher.

“Are you with us, Mr. Parker?” The teacher asked, and Peter blushed lightly and nodded, looking at the board, grabbing his pencil and almost stabbing himself in the process, making his already pink cheeks darken to a nearly scarlet as he fumbled to hold it in the correct position. The teacher smirked but continued talking.

26 excruciatingly long minutes later, the bell rang, and he gathered his things, speed walking out of the class with Ned right behind him.

“So, I’m guessing you haven’t said anything yet,” his friend asked, and Peter sighed and shook his head.

“I don’t even know why I said I’d think about it! I obviously wanna do it, I just don’t know how to even start to accept that type of offer, y'know?” he stopped at his locker and twisted in the combination before yanking it open and shoving his books into his bag before slamming the door shut and swinging the strap over his shoulder. Ned was already waiting patiently for Peter to be ready. “I still don’t know how you do that so fast,”

They walked out to the front side by side before Ned clapped him on the shoulder, “I’ll see you tomorrow, dude. I have shit to do at home, and you need to call a certain someone.” He gave Peter a pointed look then turned around and walked down the street as Peter laughed and headed the opposite way. Observing the people of New York as he walked past them, adjusting his backpack strap every few steps until he reached his home and he almost stepped onto the curb before he noticed the fancy car parked a few feet away and he froze. Oh god.

He debated on going around back and slinging himself up to his bedroom window, but he has to say hi to May, or else she'll get suspicious on how he sneaked past her and the company later.

_Dammit_.

He sighed and walked in, immediately spotting the brunet and his aunt sitting on the couch eating some of Aunt May's predictably terrible cooking. Tony Stark was a good actor, he'll give him that.

The billionaire nodded his head in a silent greeting as the teenager came into view. “Heey, Mr. Stark..uh, what are you-what are you doing here?” he rocked on his heels awkwardly and crossed his arms as the genius stood up and dusted his hands of nothing. “Hi, May,” he waved stupidly at his aunt as she smirked at his awkwardness.

“Hey, Kid. I gave you some time to think about it, you know your answer now?” He raised a brow as May looked between the two in confusion.

“What? Peter, have you been having secret meetings with Tony Stark that you didn't tell me about?” Peter froze and glanced between the amused expression of Tony and May's confused face.

“Uhh..” he paused, “Can we talk about this in my room?” Tony looked at May and said a quiet ‘excuse us,’ as he followed Peter to his room for the second time that month.

As soon as Tony was sitting on the bed and Peter was awkwardly leaning against his desk, the billionaire looked over at the teen and tilted his chin upwards, “So?”

Peter crossed his arms, he didn't know why, but something about the whole internship felt like it would lead to even more trouble for Spiderman, which those problems always found their way into Peter Parker's life as well.

"Okay, so what if I say yes, what does being your intern mean?" Tony narrows his eyes at Peter's question but continues on just as surely as before.

“You’ll be picked up from school on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday by my driver and get dropped off at the tower, where you’ll be led to my lab by an assistant.”

Peter nods slowly, "Okay, I'll- I'll try it out." The genius grins and Peter nods a little more confidently, "Yeah, I'll do it."

Tony Stark left without another word.

—————————

The next day was Wednesday, so Peter got a little more time to prepare himself for his few hours with Tony Stark that he now got on a weekly basis.

Peter got ready for school, after a grueling 7-hour patrol with one too many robberies and more than usual drug deals, he had only gotten 5 hours of sleep, and when he saw his reflection with dark bags and pale skin, he groaned dramtically.

He went down to the kitchen and grabbed a piece of toast for breakfast before practically running out the door when seeing the time flash at him on the microwave, calling out a quick bye to his aunt and finishing the last bite before hitting the street.

He walked briskly, breathing in the pleasant warm-but-not-too-warm air of springtime in Queens, although you could still smell burning rubber and fumes floating around, he was used to it and welcomed it.

It took him 12 minutes to walk up to the glass double doors where Ned and MJ were already waiting as usual, and they all walked in together. Peter chose to ignore the taunting laughs and occasional stupid nickname thrown his way, he did feel bad that his friends were the ones looking out for him as he hung his head and walked faster.

Peter and Ned stopped at their neighboring lockers, and MJ gave them both friendly flicks on their ears before walking down the hall and disappearing behind a group of kids.

After grabbing their stuff, they started walking side by side to their first period, and Ned bent his head towards Peter’s slightly, “So?”

Peter sighed and looked at him, “So what?”

“Did you say yes?” His voice was bleeding excitement in a hushed whisper as Peter rolled his eyes acting as if it wasn’t a big deal. He was freaking out, but it's not like Peter wasn't either.

“Yeah,” he smiled, his excitement showing through in his eyes, “I’ll be going there three times a week.” Ned clapped him on the shoulder and smiled brightly.

“Good for you, dude. You deserve to be recognized, and once you’re best friends with the Avengers, you better bring me to meet them.” Peter laughed as they walked through the door and took their seats in the back.

“I’m not that likable, they’ll probably just ignore me.” He pulled out his textbook as Ned scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Yeah right, you’re gonna be talking so much they won’t get the chance to ignore you.”

“Hey! I don’t talk _that_ much!” Ned laughed and nodded with a sorry look that didn’t look sorry at all as the teacher began teaching and they were forced to pay attention.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter sees the lab for the first time and meets Bruce Banner.

The Avengers tower was even more amazing in person, it was so tall that Peter could barely see the top from where he was standing at the entrance. The person who had picked him up from school, Happy, chuckles and places a hand between his shoulder blades.

“Come on kid, you have a lab to go to, and I have stuff to do,” Peter snapped out of his awestruck state and looked over at Happy.

“Yeah yeah, sorry.” He stammered and let the driver lead him into the lobby that was absolutely beautiful, “Mr. Stark said that either Pepper or JARVIS would lead me to the lab?”

“That would be correct Mr. Parker.” The voice of the AI made Peter jump a little and look around in confusion, Happy laughed.

“That’s JARVIS, he basically runs the building, ask him whatever you want, and he’ll give you an answer.”

“Mr. Stark has an AI?! That’s so cool!!” Peter looked around trying to find where the voice had come from and didn’t find a speaker, so he just looked at a security camera and waved, “Hi, JARVIS!”

“Hello, Mr. Parker. I was instructed by sir to lead you to his lab. Go to the door on the right, I have given you access.” Peter walked towards the door with a smile and turned towards Happy to wave. The driver smiled and walked out of the glass doors.

As Peter followed the AI’s instructions, he asked him questions which JARVIS answered with ease.

“Were you named after someone?”

“I was named after sir’s childhood butler,” Peter smiled and kept asking questions about how he worked and about his coding until they arrived at double doors.

“What am I supposed to do when I go in there?” He asked, and he imagined JARVIS shrugging.

“Just do what sir tells you to and answer his questions, if you need any help, you can ask me.” Peter nodded and took a deep breath, “Do not stress Mr. Parker, despite certain opinions from the media, sir is not evil.” Peter could swear there was amusement in the AI’s voice and laughed slightly before opening the door, then froze.

It didn’t look like your average lab, it looked more like a very high tech garage, but he still felt an overwhelming feeling of excitement wash through and almost let a squeak slip out.

“Kid? That you?” Tony popped up from behind a beaten down old car and stood up, he had glasses on that screamed expensive and his hands were smudged with black. He was like an oxymoron come to life.

Peter was still looking around in awe, itching to see the devices and papers laying haphazardly around on tables and the ground before looking at Tony, “Hi!” He squeaked and immediately blushed at the sound that had come out of his mouth.

Tony laughed and waltzed over, spreading his arms out and gesturing around the lab, “So?” Peter looked around again, his mouth opening and closing, he probably looked like a goldfish.

“I-I mean, from what I can tell, it-it looks amazing.” He stuttered still gazing at all the gadgets laying around and staring at equations on whiteboards.

Tony laughed again and walked over to the nearest table, grabbing a round disk and tossing it at Peter who catches it with ease, carefully turning it in his hands and studying it. It was black and small, a perfect circle with ridges lining the inside, and a tiny button on the smooth exterior. He decided not to press it. “What do you think?”

Peter looked up at Tony who was leaning against a metal table and watching him fiddle with it, the billionaire gave a pointed look towards the disc. “Um... it’s a weapon, not lethal but still dangerous, used for..” he looked at the interior again, it was hard to see with a such a small circumference, but if he tilted it towards the lights just right he could spot the practically invisible wire running around the inside, “electrocution?”

Tony nodded, and Peter tossed the strange weapon back to the genius, and he caught it, setting it down on the table again, “It’s a Widow Bite. If you would've pressed that button, you would be unconscious.” Peter’s eyes widened, and he glanced at the little black object again.

“That tiny thing has 50,000 volts of electricity packed inside it?” Tony nodded, and Peter winced before following Tony hesitantly as he walked to a counter in the back where he grabbed a plain white box. He opened it and lifted a tiny spider out, but Peter could see other common bugs inside of it too.

“You know what Hydra is, right?” Peter nodded and flinched as Tony lay the thing in his palm, but it didn’t move, and he looked up at the man in confusion. “So this is like the oldest trick in the book, but we’ve never been able to get close enough to drop the guys on the actual bases, now JARVIS and me have figured out a way to shut down the security systems long enough to get Clint and Natasha close to the building so they can let them out. Their eyes are cameras, and JARVIS can control them to figure out the baddies plans.”

Peter lifted the small bug up to his eye level and saw the red eyes and tiny mechanical looking legs. “It’s like the things in spy movies,” he placed it in the box and stared at it for a second, “cool.” He breathed and looked up at Tony. “So, What do you want me to do?”

Tony smiled, “For now, I need you to write the numbers I tell you to write,” Peter deflated a little, he was hoping to make something, but they got to work anyway.

——————————

It only took Peter 3 days before he memorized the path to Tony’s lab, he had met Pepper the following Monday, and he liked her, she made jokes about Mr. Stark that no one else would dare make. She would also hang out and make calls in the lab, tapping away on her StarkPad, Pepper radiated power when she was walking through the halls of the Avengers tower, Peter wouldn’t be surprised if people started bowing as she strutted past. Pepper Potts was amazing.

Peter also learned that Mr. Stark loved music. Loud music. _Deafening_ music. He tended to stick to classic rock, but sometimes it strayed to alternative or sometimes even pop. Peter didn’t care what music was blaring through the lab, he was just glad it wasn’t awkward silence constantly.

He was still working with equations, he recognized most of them, but some were foreign, and he got curious and asked the genius what he was working on, which led to Tony talking about his arc reactor or the nanotech he had decided to play with. The third time he was there Tony let him work on his web shooters and upgrading the web formula, which was like heaven for the teen.

An hour into his work, the door opened. Thinking that it was Pepper he didn’t look up from studying different types of ways to make his web shooters more efficient on the website projected in front of him. JARVIS had taught him how to use the holograms.

“Hey Tony, I have a question abo-why is there a kid in your lab?” Peter looked over quickly, eyes wide. Yeah, it wasn’t Pepper. It was Bruce freaking Banner.

“He’s my intern, what do you want?” Tony stopped fiddling with piles of scrap and walked over to the other genius as Peter stood there gaping, hologram completely forgotten.

Bruce looked at Tony like he was crazy, but shook his head and looked down at the probably expensive piece of technology in his hand. He was barely paying attention to what the doctor was saying, his brain hadn’t fully caught up with the fact that his inspiration for studying every field that the science subject had to offer was standing 10 feet away, so he started examining his web shooters, even though he knew how they worked inside and out.

“Hey kid, get over here,” Tony called, and Peter looked up in surprise, but set the band down and walked over hesitantly. “This is Dr. Banner, you know him.” Peter nodded his head stupidly and took the hand that Bruce offered; still, star struck.

“Y-yeah, big fan of your work doctor, I’ve read all of your theories on gamma radiation, and it’s truly amazing.” Bruce looked shocked at this and nodded. Peter looked over at Tony who was smirking at the stupid way he was acting and handed him the thing.

“Opinion?” Peter was surprised that Tony wanted his thoughts on the thing, but he doubted that his answer would matter.

“What is it?” Peter scrunched up his nose and rolled the sphere around in his hands, it was the size of a baseball and a dark purple, a single thin line of blue outlined the middle.

“Weapon for Hawkeye, try it out.” Bruce shot Tony a look as Peter’s spidey-sense hummed in warning when he put his hands on either side of the ball to twist it, as soon as it made a clicking sound, he tossed it up, and the two halves split apart and quickly took form of a spear, he caught it and studied the shape and material.

“Awesome,” he flipped it and noticed the design on the top, “Explosive? How dangerous?”

“Lethal, the problem is, this is supposed to be used as a last resort, but it takes forever to activate..” Tony drew out the end of the sentence and Peter glanced between him and Dr. Banner.

“So..?” He found a button on the middle of the shaft and pressed, watching as it folded in on itself and became the baseball-sized sphere again.

“So, I want you to figure out how to make it quicker,” Peter’s head shot up, and he looked at the billionaire in confusion.

“What? Why me?”

“Because if you do, I’ll let you start upgrades for your suit and maybe make your own AI.” Peter looked at him, then at Bruce.

“Okay... What’s my deadline?”

“A week.” Peter nodded and set the ball down on a table.

“Wait. What suit?” Bruce asked, and Tony looked at Peter, he waved him the go-ahead-I-don’t-care.

“Peter’s Spiderman,” He said casually as he walked back to his table, picking up the piece of metal that he was fiddling with earlier.

“ _What_!?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am extremely excited to write this story and develop the characters and relationships in my own way, the kudos and comments help a lot so I appreciate that greatly. 
> 
> Criticism and opinions are always welcome. 
> 
> My official Tumblr and Instagram: spiritxwolf
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter meets the Avenegers (Kind of) and Tony laughs at Peter.

Peter constantly thought about meeting the Avengers while working, not in a creepy stalker way, they were his heroes, and when your heroes are in the same building as you, it’s kinda hard to not think about it.

Right now he was working on Clint’s new weapon, he had taken the liberty of naming it The Talon because Peter Parker’s just creative like that.

Of course, he never mentioned it to Tony, because he would laugh at him and then probably call all of them down there, and as much as Peter thought about it, he wasn’t ready for that.

He had figured the technology for the spear out at school on Wednesday since he was so far ahead in science class it wouldn’t hurt for him to not pay attention for the period.

He didn’t know who he was most excited about meeting, he was a bit scared of Natasha and Bucky, but they seemed _so_ cool. Clint seemed like he was hilarious and Wanda looked like she would fit his personality best. Vision was smart as hell and could have conversations with Peter, Thor was just awesome in general. The Captain seemed like he would be a bit intimidating, but Peter wasn’t sure how he acted when he was relaxed. Sam and Peter’s personalities clashed a bit, but he seemed fun and outgoing. He was probably going to be too overwhelmed when meeting anyone, he wouldn’t be paying attention to how excited he was.

Peter had made the shape of the container for the spear from a ball to rectangular prism and changed the color from a dull dark purple, a to a metallic black. It was smaller now too, only about 5 inches long and 1 inch wide so Clint could carry it a bit easier. Right now, he was carving The Talon onto the side in electric blue, the letters were done in a strange font.

It wasn’t like he was that important anyway. They would probably say hi, ask why a kid is doing an adults work, and then walk away. The thought almost made Peter flinch, but that would mess up the writing, so he ignored it.

Now that the casing was done, he could start working on actually building the tech for the transition from rectangle to spear, but before he could even begin to search for materials, the music stopped, and he looked at Mr. Stark as the man looked back at him.

“I’m starving, are you starving?” Peter shrugged.

“Do you want me to bring down some food from the kitchen, sir?” JARVIS asked politely as always, and Tony shook his head.

“No thanks, J. Me and spider-baby are gonna head up to the common room, the food is better.” Peter glared at the nickname as they headed towards the elevator and JARVIS took them up, probably about 14 levels before it stopped and they stepped out. “Come on, Kid. This way.” Mr. Stark led them down a corridor and stopped at a door, placing his hand on the platform next to it, and it flashed green before the door opened and the two walked in, and one froze a step into the large room.

All the Avengers were scattered around the living space. Natasha, Clint, Bruce, and Thor were watching a movie while Steve and Bucky were in the kitchen doing something. Wanda was sitting by the ceiling to floor windows reading a book with Vision, Sam was laying on the floor playing on his phone.

Tony laughed at Peter’s facial expression as he poured a drink and the microwave cooked something while Peter stood stock still, hoping he could just camouflage into the wall, but everyone was staring at him. Tony so knew this was gonna happen.

“Hey, Pete. What do you want?” Peter snapped out of it and ducked his head, he could feel himself blush as he quickly walked to the kitchen and stood next to Tony. Maybe he was trying to hide, but who could blame him? Peter shrugged at the brunette's question, and Tony sighed, turning away and grabbing something from the fridge before tossing it into another microwave.

“Tony?” _Goddammit._

“What’s up, Capsicle?” Tony took a sip of his drink as Steve just looked at him.

“Why is there a kid with you right now?” Peter blushed harder and stared at the counter, he could feel everyone’s stares burning straight through his head.

“Why does everyone keep asking me that? He’s my intern,”

“Since when have you ever had an intern?” Sam asked, now standing up and joining in on staring at Peter.

“Since last Wednesday,” the billionaire answered smoothly, and Clint raised his hand. Tony sighed, “What do you want, Barton?”

“Why?” He asked simply, and Tony let out a breath of relief that he didn’t ask a stupid question.

“Because he’s a genius,” Clint raised a brow.

“Really?”

“Hey, he’s the one in charge of making the weapon that’s probably gonna save your life one day.” Now both of Clint's eyebrows were raised, and Peter was fiddling with his web shooters, wondering if he timed it right he could swing out of here and make it to the lab.

“I thought you and Bruce were designing it?” Wanda asked from her place by the window.

“Me and Bruce fucked up, so Peter restarted the entire thing.” Bruce looked slightly offended, and everyone else was just surprised.

“I think you’re forgetting a detail there, Tony.” Bruce pointed out, and Peter looked up finally, he had not ready for any type of meeting with the Avengers, his mind had practically shut down as soon as he saw them. He was so not prepared to be outed as Spiderman, everyone thought Spiderman was a joke.

Tony rolled his eyes and turned away as the microwave beeped, grabbing a knife and throwing it at Peter’s head. His spidey-senses had gone off as soon as the billionaire's finger had touched the blade, so he caught it by the handle without looking up and set it down on the counter carefully. Tony shrugged as he pulled his food out. “The kid’s Spiderman,”

“Spiderman’s a teenager?” No one laughed, thank god, but everyone seemed shocked.

“Uh, yeah? Have you never seen a video of Spiderman talking?” Everyone shook their head, and Tony rolled his eyes, “Idiots. Kid, say hi or something, you’re just making this more awkward.” Peter’s eyes widened as he looked up.

“Uh.. h-hi? I’m, uh, Peter.” He inwardly grimaced at how stupid he sounded, but he couldn’t take the words back now. Tony rolled his eyes and shoved a fork full of the pasta looking thing he had just cooked, into his mouth.

“Kid, get your food. It’s been sitting in the microwave for the last minute and if I remember correctly you were about to build the base for that spear,” Peter jumped slightly and turned to get whatever Tony had cooked, grabbing the fork that Mr. Stark offered when he turned back around.

Peter looked like an embarrassed squirrel as he scurried after his boss, out the door and back to the elevator.

“Why did you do that?!” Peter squeaked at the smirking Tony, “I just embarrassed myself in front of the most dangerous people in the world!” The genius finally broke at Peter’s horrified facial expression, throwing his head back and hitting the full-length mirror behind him as he laughed.

Peter pouted and crossed his arms as Tony wiped imaginary tears from his eyes, “You so knew they were gonna be there,” Peter took a bite of the pasta (?) and shook his head as Tony burst into laughter all over again.

“Oh god..” he wheezed, “I’m gonna have JARVIS play that back when we get to the lab,” he let out one last snicker at Peter’s scandalized look as they stepped out of the elevator and headed back to the double doors.

\-----------------

Tony, being true to his word, did have JARVIS play the recording back and Peter wanted to die. He was like the human embodiment of awkwardness and embarrassment, Tony was laughing again, almost on the ground and Peter was staring at the screen, blushing like crazy and groaning at how stupid he looked every 5 seconds.

“I need to go lay down and process the fact that my life has been ruined by Tony Stark.” He muttered, and Tony just laughed harder.

“Wait, Wait, Wait!!” Tony called through his laughs, taking a second to breathe before rewinding the video, “Did you see your face when you noticed Nat staring at you!?” Peter rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t help a smile slip at the sight of one of the wealthiest men in the world laughing at an embarrassing video of Peter Parker.

“Is this what you do in your free time? Do you just laugh at embarrassing videos of your colleagues?” Peter asked incredulously, and Tony shook his head.

“No, no. Of course not, I do.. stuff.” Peter gave him a look, and Tony giggled, and that was all Peter needed as confirmation, “To be fair though! I don’t have much free time.” Peter couldn’t argue with that, so he just rolled his eyes again.

]“Okay, whatever. Laugh at me, May said I needed to be home by 6, and it is..” he glanced down at his watch, and his eyes widened comically, “5:53! Shit! I’m so dead!” He ran around and grabbed his stuff, before running towards the doors and scooping up his backpack, throwing his stuff in hurriedly, “Bye Mr. Stark!” and Peter was out the door.

Tony smiled as the door swung shut and shook his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Criticism and opinions are always welcome. 
> 
> My official Tumblr and Instagram: spiritxwolf


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter finishes the weapon, Clint acts like a child and Natasha understands Peter’s feelings.

“Mr. Stark?” It was Tuesday again when Peter walked into the lab holding the weapon securely in his hands as he looked for the billionaire until he popped up from underneath a table and scared Peter half to death, Tony laughed as he crawled out and dusted his hands off.

“Hey, kid. What do you need?” He clapped a hand onto Peter’s shoulder and walked with him to his regular table.

“Oh, um... I-I, uh, finished The Talon.” Peter almost smacked himself as soon as the name left his mouth, of course, Tony would’ve eventually figured it out since it was carved onto the side in a way that you wouldn’t miss it, but he didn’t want to just outright say it.

Tony raised an eyebrow as Peter handed him the container and he turned it in his hands, admiring the color and smaller size before giving it back to him. “Cool, how does it work?” Peter smiled, and his eyes lit up as he grabbed it again.

“Fingerprint access,” he stated and twirled the container around in his hands before simply pressing his thumb against the side, and it immediately split apart and formed the spear in about 2 seconds. Tony whistled lowly and grabbed it again twirling the 2 and a half foot weapon, “the only problem is I need Clint’s fingerprint so he can access it..”

Tony shrugged, “Okay. JARVIS?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Where’s Barton?”

“ Mr. Barton is currently occupying his floor, more specifically, his bedroom.”

“Can you tell him to get down to the lab?”

“Of course, sir.” Peter’s eyes widened and looked between the doors and Tony anxiously.

“I thought you were gonna go up to him, not bring him down here!” Tony laughed and passed the spear back to Peter.

“I’m not gonna be doing anything, I’m fixing a car.” The brunette walked towards the car in the back corner that was surrounded by tools and scraps as Peter stared after him.

“What!? I can’t do that, I’ll pass out before I get the chance to say hi!” Tony laughed from behind the car and Peter groaned. This was gonna be the end of Peter Parker.

He pulled up the settings for the weapon on the table and tapped Clint’s unchecked name, it was ready to copy down his fingerprints, and Peter pressed the button on the shaft, it transformed back into its container. Just as Peter set it down, the glass door to the lab opened, and he almost jumped out of his own skin.

He quickly turned, almost tripping over his own feet and knocking the weapon off the table, but he didn’t. “H-hi, um, I-I’m Peter, we kinda met yesterday, I-it’s a pleasure, Mr. Barton, Hawkeye sir.” He wanted to go bang his head on the wall when he heard Tony snickering as he worked out of sight.

Clint smirked slightly at his stuttering and held out a hand, which Peter surprisingly didn’t forget to shake, “So, why am I down here?”

Peter jumped in realization when he remembered what he was supposed to be doing, “Oh! Um... I, uh, finished your weapon and I need your fingerprints so you can access it.” Peter could’ve done that a lot smoother, but at least he hasn’t dropped dead yet.

Clint lit up at the idea of the new weapon and looked around trying to find it, “Can I see it?”

Peter fumbled for the rectangle as he awkwardly didn’t say anything before handing it over. Clint studied and finally came to the writing on the side and raised a brow, “The Talon?” Peter nodded and started to regret every life decision he has ever made to get him to this point.

“I mean, I can change it if you want, it’s not a problem if you don’t like it, I just wanted to give it a name, so.,” he spoke too fast, he was surprised Clint could understand him.

The archer shook his head, “No, it’s cool. I like it.” Peter almost fainted in relief. “So what do I need to do?”

Peter turned quickly on his heel and almost immediately tripped and probably would’ve ended up with a bruised jaw if Clint hadn’t grabbed his arm and righted the teen as he blushed and said a quiet thanks before looking down at the table, making sure the page was still up, “So, you’ll just press each finger against the screen for like five seconds and then finish with doing your entire hand.” Clint nodded and followed the instructions. Once he was done, he looked like a child on Christmas morning.

“Can I try it now?” Peter chuckled and grabbed the spear.

“I suggest you keep it to your side and pointed away from anything.” Clint nodded, and Peter tossed the container to the archer, and he looked over it once again before pressing his index finger against the letters, and the spear was there before you could blink. The grown man jumped up and down and twirled the weapon like a baton between his fingers.

“Awesome!” He found the button on the shaft, and it crumpled back into the container.

“Having fun, Barton?” Tony asked as he stood up and laughed at Clint’s overly happy expression. Clint ignored Tony’s teasing and smiled at Peter.

“I’m gonna go tell Nat, thanks Spiderling!” He raced out the door, and Tony clapped Peter on the shoulder as he stared after him.

“Well at least he likes you, that means Natasha won’t kill you.” Peter looked up at Tony in concern, and the billionaire laughed once again.

“I’m kidding, Parker.”

—————————

Natasha didn’t know what to make of the new kid, and maybe she shouldn’t be thinking of him when she was sparring with Sam, but she couldn’t stop. He wasn’t your average bratty teenager, he didn’t brag to try and impress them, and he didn’t act all confident. He acted the exact opposite

Peter hunched his shoulders to seem smaller and avoided any sort of eye contact with anyone, not because he couldn’t, because he didn’t want to. But why?

Sam knocked the back of her knee out, and she collapsed forwards, it was a simple move, and she should’ve seen it coming from a mile away, but that damn kid was distracting her. She sighed and muttered, “Yield.”

Sam released his grip on her shoulders, and she stood up, dusting off her knees and pushing her friend playfully as he laughed. They walked off the mat and grabbed waters, Sam twisted the cap off as he watched her take a drink.

“What’s distracting you, Tasha?” He asked, and she set the water down, sighing and shaking her head, silky red hair brushing her shoulders like old friends.

“The kid,” she sat down against the platform and looked up at Sam, “there’s something about him I can’t figure out, and it’s bothering me.” Sam chuckled and sat next to her.

“You think _Spiderman_ is a threat?” Natasha rolled her eyes but felt a need tug at the back of her mind to defend him.

“Not a threat, dumbass,” he scoffed at the insult, and she smirked, “There’s a thing about him, about how he approached us yesterday, I can’t figure it out, and it’s driving me crazy.”

“You mean like am intimidated twelve-year-old?” Natasha muttered in Russian under her breath.

“But that’s the thing! He wasn’t intimidated, he was..” She scrunched her eyebrows. _come on, Romanov_.

“Scared? Anxious? Like any other kid?” Sam offered, confusion settling over his features, he had never seen Nat like this.

“Scared. But not of being hurt by us, he wanted..” _he wanted to what, Romanov?_ Her eyes snapped open, and she looked at Sam, “He wanted our approval, he didn’t want to be seen as a kid or a joke. He wants to be taken seriously, but he doesn’t know how to make that possible.”

“That’s a lot of information to get from seeing him one time,” he raised an eyebrow and Natasha smiled.

“I don’t know, Sam. I like him,” she did a tiny one shoulder shrug, and Sam made an over exaggerated shocked expression.

“You mean to tell me... Natasha Romanov met someone she didn’t want to kill right away?” Nat let out a tiny chuckle before Clint ran in, waving something around wildly.

“Nat! Tasha! Natalia! Spider! Brazil! Widow! Aussie! Ginger! Twister! _Natasha_!!” Clint yelled, jumping up and down in front of the women as she bobbed her head in time with his movements, waiting for him to finish. When he ran out of breath and bent over, panting, she finally smirked and looked at the thing in his hand.

“Yes?” She replied, and he stood up, smiling broadly before holding the box thing directly in her face, it only took her eyes a couple seconds to focus on the writing, “Talon? What is this, Barton?”

“It’s my weapon! Look, watch!” He held it to his side and pressed his index finger against it, and the spear was suddenly next to him, he held it out for Natasha to observe and she took it slowly. “The Spiderling made it for me!”

Natasha flipped the object in her hands and smirked at Sam as he stood up and flashed a quick smile in her direction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not good at science so don't judge me on those descriptions, I hope I'm doing okay on the establishing relationships and all that. Let me know if you liked the change from Peter to Nat!
> 
> Criticism and opinions are always welcome.
> 
> My official Tumblr and Instagram: spiritxwolf
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter has his first fight with the Avengers and joins in on their movie night

Why did it have to be one of Peter’s days off when Tony finally made the call? Peter stood on his roof, his Spiderman suit stuck to his skin as he scanned his surroundings trying to find anything. Yeah, Tony hadn’t told him where to go. God, he wished he had that AI.

He sighed and jumped back down through his window, grabbing his phone and calling Mr. Stark, he picked up a half a ring later.

“ _Where are you, Kid!?_ ” Tony voice yelled through his ear, and he winced.

“Sorry, Mr. Stark! I’ll be there as fast as possible as soon as you tell me where you are.” He squeaked, and he heard Tony take a hit and grunt.

“ _BROOKLYN!_ ” And the call ended. Peter jumped out of his window and swung to the next building, gaining speed as he went before he ended up in Brooklyn. He looked around again and saw Iron Man and Falcon flying and shooting stuff at other stuff. He couldn’t tell from here.

He took a deep breath and returned to swinging, he came to the sight and sighed.

_Robots? Seriously?_

Four came at him, and he webbed two and swung them together, crushing the others right as static crackled in his ear, making him jump.

“Hey kid, took ya long enough,” Tony called, and Peter jumped to the side, and the robot charging him crashed into the building.

“Hey, Mr. Stark! Um.. since when have I had comms?” He asked, and he swung towards the middle of the fight, landing next to Tony and kicking one of the annoying things down to the ground and crushing it.

“Since you first started working with me, now go help Nat or Clint, I’ve got these guys.” Peter nodded and ran over to Clint covering his back as he shot explosive arrows and blew up the surrounding bots.

“Howdy, Spiderling! First, fight with us, and it’s robots, can you believe this bullshit?” Peter laughed, forgetting he was talking to Hawkeye for a second.

“Language!” Steve’s voice yelled over the comms, and the crunch of metal came right after, Peter could practically hear everyone roll their eyes.

“Hey, my regular deal is cats in trees and armed robberies. This is plenty exciting enough.” He called, and there was a second of silence before they all laughed and brushed the idea of the 17-year-old facing down a guy with a gun that would be more than willing to shoot.

“Hey, Barton! I thought that thing was supposed to be used as last resort!” Sam called from above the two and Peter glanced around him, catching sight of the very sharp point of the spear.

“I thought Peter would like to see _The Talon_ in action,” Peter felt the heat rush to his face, and he was so glad he had a mask.

“I came up with that name on 3 hours of sleep, okay!” He defended himself and slammed two other bots to the concrete. Another one slammed ruthlessly into his back, and he yelped and wheeled around, grabbing it out of the air and twisting its head off.

“Pete, you okay?” Tony asked, concern lacing through his voice and Peter did a half laugh.

“Yeah, yeah, fine.” He confirmed and shot at another stupid robot, “ _Goddamn_ , that’s gonna bruise..”

“Language, young man!” Tony said in a mockingly deep voice, and Clint laughed.

“A young man with so much potential should not be speaking with such a foul mouth!” Tony laughed, and Wanda’s snicker came through the comms, Peter smiled beneath his mask.

“Shut up, Stark!” Cap yelled as his shield flew above their heads.

“Ha!” Clint said jokingly in Tony’s direction, and the genius flipped him off.

“You too, Barton!” Steve gave him a pointed look as he ran past and Clint pouted.

“Aww, come on, Popsicle!” Everyone laughed at Steve’s sigh and then they noticed fewer robots were flooding towards them.

“Guys?” Peter’s spidey sense spiked and he looked around frantically, “is this gonna be like in the video games where the army backs off, and the boss shows up?”

“Afraid so, kid,” Clint says and shoots another arrow off.

————————

Peter dragged himself into the common room, his back hurt from that stupid robot and his suit had tears all over it, cuts hiding underneath. He pulled off his mask and fell onto the fluffy carpet, sighing and trying to move his fucked up ankle. _Stupid New York and it’s stupid potholes_.

“Do you wanna drink, Peter? Something to eat?” Wanda asked, and he sat up, immediately wincing.

“Water is fine, thanks.” He stood up and wanted to die as soon as he did, but he made his way over to the couch and sat down, leaning back against the soft cushions.

Tony sat next to Peter with a bowl of grapes in his hand and Clint followed behind him, sitting on the floor and leaning against Tony’s legs to annoy him.

“Ugh, get off me, Hawkass.” Tony kicked at Clint, and the latter gasped loudly.

“There is a child in our presence, Tony!” Sam chuckled from the kitchen and Clint smirked at Tony’s dramatic groan. Peter smiled at their antics and looked up as Wanda passed him his drink, thanking her quietly which earned him a half smile from the witch.

Bucky jumped over the back of the couch and grabbed the remote off the table, popping a piece of candy in his mouth as he pressed the on button, “So, what are we watching?” He asked as Natasha walked past and hit him with a dish towel.

“пусть ребенок выбирает,” she muttered quietly, and Bucky gave her a strange look before looking at Peter.

“Hey kid, you wanna pick?” He asked and held the remote out as Peter looked at Bucky then at the remote again with confusion.

“I-I.. um, what am I picking, exactly?” He rubbed the back of his neck as Tony snorted beside him.

“It’s movie night, Pete. They’re letting you pick the movie, be honored.” Tony explained quickly, and Peter looked around the room at all of the Avengers waiting faces and slowly took the remote from the super soldier.

“Um... okay. Any-any preferences?” Steve chuckled from where he was sitting next to Bucky.

“May we keep him, Tony? We need some type of civilized human around here.” Wanda asked, and Tony shrugged.

“You’ll have to ask his aunt,” Peter blushed and turned towards the flat screen TV, figuring out the controls as he went before he was scrolling through horror movies on Mr. Stark’s app that offered every movie you could think of. He scrolled through probably about 20 before deciding on ‘Don’t Breathe.’

As the introduction started playing, he felt a weight settle on his other side and looked over, staring as _the Black Widow_ sat down next to him with two blankets. She offered the fluffiest one to him, and he took it gratefully, Mr. Stark liked to keep the building cold. She offered him a tiny smirk, and he smiled before settling against the couch cushions comfortably.

When the introductions ended and the actual movie started, the lights dimmed, and the shades fell over the windows, causing him to mutter, “Oh, god..” causing Clint to snicker in front of him, causing Tony to kick him in his ribs.

“Ow! Rude much?” The archer hissed, and Natasha leaned over Peter to smack his head, followed by an ‘shh’ from Bucky.

After 5 minutes of quiet chuckles and verbal abuse from Tony, Bucky, and Natasha, they all shut up and paid attention to the screen.

Peter would be the only one to admit that he jumped during the intense movie, the gunshots and loud music startled him multiple times, and each time he would somehow end up cuddled into Natasha’s side, before backing up immediately and whispering apologies.

45 minutes in his phone lit up, and he glanced down, the brightness making his head hurt for a second before he could focus on the text.

_May: Hey Pete, you’re a little late, is everything okay?_

Peter lowered his brightness and looked at the time, 6:08, he sighed, and Tony looked over at him before looking at his phone and chuckling.

“The movie’s almost over, just tell her to give you another 45 minutes,” he whispered, and Peter nodded before another loud noise startled him and he basically jumped into Nat’s lap. He released her immediately and was slightly surprised when she just kept an arm around him, he questioned it for a second then decided not to.

_Peter: me and Mr. Stark are watching a movie, I’ll be there in about 45 minutes_

He turned his phone off and looked at the screen again, preparing himself for the inevitable jump scares.

————————

He didn’t remember falling asleep, he didn’t even remember closing his eyes, but apparently, he did because he was now blinking his eyes open to Tony’s voice.

“Hey, kid. I bought you another hour from your aunt, but I’m afraid you have to go home now..” Peter opened his eyes fully and took in his surroundings. The bed he was laying on was incredibly comfortable, and the walls were painted a light gray, there was a desk in the corner with a very fancy computer, and a stack of business cards sat next to it. It took him a second before it clicked.

“Mr. Stark, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to fall asleep, you should’ve woken me up, you didn’t have to take me to your room!” He squeaked, and Tony chuckled and patted his shoulder.

“It’s okay, you needed the sleep, plus Clint and Nat insisted you didn’t stay on the couch.” Peter nodded, still unsure, but he couldn’t say anything because Tony was already standing up. “Come on, you need to get home.”

Peter stood up slowly, wincing as his foot made contact with the carpet, his ankle didn’t hurt as bad, but it still hurt.

He slowly made his way to the door and slipped his shoes on that someone had taken off, probably Tony. He didn’t even know how the billionaire had gotten May to agree to another hour, but he was thankful he did, Tony wasn’t wrong when he said Peter needed the sleep.

Tony met him in the common room, and they both took the elevator ride down to the lobby, Peter still rubbing the sleep from his eyes and trying to loosen up his tense shoulders.

The car ride was silent except AC/DC playing through the speakers, which made Peter want to nod off even more, but he forced himself not to until they pulled up to his quaint little home and he stepped out of Mr. Stark’s expensive car, he waved at him and the genius drove off when Peter opened the door.

May asked the routine questions, if he was okay and if they had done something productive. Peter nodded to each question and hugged her before making his way to his room and collapsing on the bed. The last thing he was able to do was pull the comforter over himself before he passed out once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> пусть ребенок выбирает - Let the child choose 
> 
> Criticism and opinions are always welcome.
> 
> My official Tumblr and Instagram: spiritxwolf
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony saves Peter and Clint falls into the lab.

“Dude, come on!”

“No.”

“Are you afraid I’m gonna like, embarrass you or something? Cause I promise you I won’t.”

“Ned-“

“Pleeease??”  
  
Peter glanced over to his friends best puppy dog eyes and sighed, giving in.

“I’ll take you to the tower as soon as I can talk to an avenger without almost having a heart attack, deal?” His friend sighed when he held out his hand but still shook it.

“Fine, now do the work before we fail this thing.” Peter chuckled and continued studying the cells under his microscope, lifting his head every few seconds to write something down that Ned would immediately copy.

The bell rang 30 minutes later, and the two took their time gathering books and their homework before they walked out the door, less time for Flash to annoy them.

“I still don’t understand why you don’t kick his ass, he has no chance against your spidey powers,” Ned muttered as Flash spotted them from up ahead.

“One bully isn’t worth my identity, Ned..” he whispered and lowered his head as the jock called out in his annoying voice.

“Penis! Hey, Penis Parker!” He ran up to pair and threw an arm over Peter, making it look like he was a friend to any passing teachers. “So I heard you talking about your job with Stark? You really think any idiot would believe that cry for attention?” Peter rolled his eyes from where his head was still bowed down.

“Fuck off, Flash.” Ned defended him, and he felt the arm around his shoulders jerk, guessing it was the bully hitting his friend.

“I just wanna know why Penis would think that a lie that big would get his attention?” He kept his voice playful, but anyone listening could hear the underlying bitchiness.

The three walked out of the building and immediately saw MJ’s head turn to look at them, Peter subtly shook his head, and she stopped short just as she had started walking towards them.

“Come on, Parker!” He let his hold of Peter go and pushed him, “Tell me all about your job with _Tony Stark_.” He mocked and pushed him again, the force making him stumble back a step.

Peter sighed and finally looked up at him, “Leave me alone, Flash. Everyone around us knows you’re just trying to prove yourself to your jock buddies.”

The bully grabbed the collar of Peter’s hoodie and yanked him forward, leaving only a couple inches between them, “What did you just say to me, Parker?”

Peter struggled against the grip but gave up when it was clear that Flash wasn’t going to let go. The teen lifted his head with the little dignity he had left and cleared his throat, “I-I said, leave me alone.” Flash scoffed and tightened his grip on the hoodie.

“Backoff, asshole.” The familiar voice of MJ came from behind him, and he tried to look over his shoulder but was roughly jerked back into place.

“You think I’m gonna listen to a _girl_?” Flash barked out a harsh laugh, and Peter winced at the sound and at the fate of Flash’s balls for saying that. Peter could practically hear the scowl on her face as she took a step forward.

“Okay, this play date is over!” Sarcastic, overly enthusiastic and a clap to punctuate the end of his sentence, one just had to wonder who had walked up to save Peter Parker’s ass.

The grip on his hoodie was released, and he stumbled back, Ned and MJ steadying him quickly. The teen twisted his head around to look at the billionaire and tried to beg with his eyes to just not say anything. Tony Stark noticed, of course, he noticed, he just didn’t care.

When Peter turned back around after getting the message Flash’s eyes were wide, his hands were twitching slightly, and you could see him preparing to run.

Tony lifted his chin slightly looking all the more arrogant and all the more intimidating, that was all it took for the bully to turn and walk briskly away. MJ made a satisfied sound, of course, she didn’t care that one of the most influential people in the world was standing two feet away. Ned was gaping and trying to speak, of course, he cared that one of the smartest ( _the_ smartest) person in the world was standing two feet away.

Peter grudgingly turned around and looked up at his boss with a pout set on his face, “Did you have to?” Tony scoffed at that and looked over Peter’s shoulder at the stunned, sulking Flash.

“What? Save you from that joke of an almost human being?” Peter gave him a confused look as Ned tapped his shoulder to alert him he was going home.

The teen nodded in his general direction, but kept his eyes on Tony, “Almost human being?” He questioned, and Tony shrugged.

“Looks like one, talks like a stupid one, has the personality of something I’ve definitely fought in the past.” Peter nodded dumbly and decided not to ask anything more as Tony just walked off and led them to the car. “Happy, Tower.” The order was done smoothly, and the back of Peter’s brain supplied a small, ‘I hope I have enough confidence to do something like that one day.’

“Of course.” The driver answered and peeled out of his parking spot, he looked in the rearview mirror at Peter as they drove, “It’s like being embarrassed by your dad, huh?”

Peter’s head shot up and immediately started scrambling for the right words,

“N-no! I mean yes! But no! I-I mean that would be awesome if he were, but he’s obviously not, and it’s not like I see him in that way! A-and it’s not like I would know what that felt like! Being embarrassed by your dad or whatever but-“ Peter cut himself off and just looked down at his fiddling hands, eyes wide and face pale.

Happy smirked and gave his friend/boss a glance, Tony had a tiny half smile on his face but seemed too focused on typing something on his StarkPad that he didn’t have time to think about it.

“Hey, kid? What was that dickhead’s name?” And the terrifying topic was dropped.

“Flash. Why?” He answered and tried to look over the seat’s shoulder at the piece of tech in Tony’s lap.

“His real name, and no reason.”

“Eugene, and that’s not true,” Peter stated in a matter-of-factly way and Tony scoffed.

“Last name? And yeah, but I don’t want you to know.”

“Thompson. Why not?” The genius flicked up a hologram and moved his head so Peter couldn’t see it.

“Because I said so, now start your homework so we can get to work in the lab when we get there.” Peter leaned back and pouted, then got out his folders and got to work.

It wasn’t until he started to strain his enhanced hearing to try and figure out what Tony was doing that the questions clicked together in his head. The teen shot up, leaning forward so fast that the seatbelt caught on his collarbone.

“Mr. Stark, please don’t stalk him!!” He cried out loudly and struggled against the seatbelt before it finally let him go. Tony chuckled but kept swiping through the holograms of profiles.

“It’s not stalking, but tell me, why weren’t you defending yourself? You looked like a rag doll.” Peter considered being offended by that comment but brushed it aside because he’s a polite person like that

“Because..” he paused and thought about how to phrase it, “I couldn’t fight back before the spider bite, I can’t now.” Tony hesitated with his movements but continued on after a second.

“I’ll never understand your need to keep your identity a secret.,” Tony muttered quietly, but Peter easily caught the words and sighed.

“Because I need to protect the people I care about. May, Ned, and MJ are normal, I can’t risk them being hurt.” Tony finally clicked on a profile, thinking about Pepper and his friends. The Avengers could take care of themselves easily, but Pepper? Happy? Tony hated himself for actually knowing what the kid was talking about.

As Tony studied the information on the bully, Happy pulled up to the infamous building, and Peter hurried out the car door, Tony took his time but eventually stepped out, waving a quick goodbye to his friend.

The billionaire wrapped a gentle arm around the kid’s shoulders, of course, he noticed the small frame, and walked with him to the front door, heading to the lab immediately.

—————————

“Hey, Mr. Stark?” Peter basically yelled across the lab over the blasting of Back In Black. The volume immediately lowered, and Tony looked up from where he was experimenting with different metals for whatever he was making.

“Yeah? Did you find something?” Peter shook his head, and the brunette continued on with his work, “What then?”

“I was just wondering..” he paused to twist a screw into the little robot he was making, “Why did you come with Happy today?” Tony paused and glanced up again at the questioning look the kid was giving him.

“I wasn’t busy, needed to get out. Lucky I did, huh?” He joked, and Peter just looked down, toeing the floor with his shoe.

“The outcome would’ve been the same if you had shown up any other day..” he looked up in panic after he said that, “Not that I’m not grateful! I am! I’m just saying..” he trailed off again, and Tony smirked, but worry still showed on his features.

The billionaire stopped absentmindedly fiddling with materials and leaned on the table, giving the kid his full attention, “Pete, how long has this been going on?”

The teen shrugged and picked up a half-finished widow bite, “6th? 7th grade?” Tony hung his head and sighed.

“ _3 years_? Kid, why-“ and then the faint sound of metal creaking happened above them and then Clint Barton crashed to the floor.

The archer did a groan mixed with a laugh as he rolled onto his back, waving at Tony with a stupid grin on his face as the genius stared down at him, “Barton? What are doing?”

“I was in the vents, then I fell.” He stayed on the floor as Tony rolled his eyes.

“Liar. You were spying on us, weren’t you?” Clint shrugged and stood up, looking at Peter and giving him a broad, real, smile. Peter couldn’t help but smile back.

“Hey, Spiderling! How’s the robot thingy?” Clint asked, and Peter shrugged gesturing to it, hoping to get the message across that he was allowed to look at it.

Tony pointed at the grown child in accusation, “So you were spying! That’s it! You are officially kicked out of my lab!” Tony pushed Clint towards the doors as he struggled against him, whining helplessly.

“Aww, come on Mr. Stark! Let him stay, he’s fun!” Peter defended the archer which got him a wink and a smile, plus an offended look from Tony.

“I can’t believe this..” he muttered and walked back over to his table as Clint strode happily across the lab to Peter.

Clint clapped Peter on the shoulder and looked at the half-assembled robot in interest, “So, what’s this guy’s name?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry about the delay with this chapter, I just started school so I don’t have much time to to write.
> 
> Criticism and opinions are always welcome.
> 
> My official Tumblr and Instagram: spiritxwolf
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda heals Peter’s (minor) injury and Tony Stark thinks.

Everyone thought that the person behind the Spiderman mask was cocky and sure-footed. In reality, Peter Parker was as insecure as you could get, anxiety-ridden, and awkward as hell.

Spiderman has faced down villains that could kill him easily if they played their cards right. Peter Parker could barely speak in front of his classmates.

Peter didn’t even really know why he had made Spiderman to be a sarcastic asshole that infuriated his enemies with stupid quips, maybe because he couldn’t in real life, maybe because it was easier to hide behind a mask.

Or maybe it was because he had looked up to Tony since he was eight and you could often hear the billionaire talking to his opponents if the news got close enough. That was probably the reason.

Peter’s head had gone so far above the clouds, that the only thing that could bring him back down was almost frying his finger off as he accidentally touched the end of a torn wire in a damaged hulk buster suit that Tony had told him to repair.

The teen yelped at the sharp shock and muttered angrily as he carefully studied his index finger for an injury, “Stupid spidey sense, you’re supposed to warn me about that.” He shook his hand to try and get rid of the weird tingly feeling.

“Are you seriously talking to your superpowers?” The arrogant voice of Tony Stark asked playfully and Peter blushed as he got back to work, carefully avoiding the wire.

“No.,” he mumbled and Tony chuckled and powered off the frantically flickering robot and swung an arm around Peter.

“How do you feel about Chinese food?” The brunette asked as he started towards the double doors, Peter shrugged even though his stomach reminded him that the nutrients from his lunch had worn off an hour and a half ago.

It wasn’t that Peter was in a bad mood, he rarely got into bad moods, he was just thinking a lot today and hadn’t found a strong enough distraction.

The duo stepped into the elevator and instead of asking his AI to take him up to his desired floor, Tony just pressed the button.

Luckily Peter remembered the floor from the day where he had embarrassed himself in front of the Avengers, _67_.

He didn’t freak out surprisingly, although his eyes did widen slightly, “Hey, JARVIS?”

“Yes, Mr. Parker?” The AI’s smooth voice filled the elevator as Tony looked at Peter curiously.

“Which Avengers are in the common room?” Tony snorted as JARVIS replied easily.

“Ms. Maximoff and Dr. Banner are currently occupying room 2364.” Peter sighed in relief. Two. He could handle two.

Tony was still snickering when they started down the hallway.

When Tony opened the door and walked in, all Peter could do was shuffle in after him, avoiding the eyes that had immediately snapped up at the intrusion. “Take a seat, kid.” The genius gestured at the barstools and oh god, if Peter sat down he would be directly across from the Scarlet Witch and his scientific idol, but if he didn’t then the atmosphere in the room would get even more awkward. So Peter walked over to the black seats and wedged himself between the bar and the back of the chair.

As Tony cooked the Chinese, Peter fiddled with his thumbs since he had forgotten to grab his phone and had nothing to do but avoid eye contact.

As the seconds ticked by, the tingly feeling in his finger came back without him noticing. So when he set his hands on the counter and pain erupted through his finger and down to his wrist he couldn’t help but squeak. Very loudly.

“Pete? You okay?” His mentor’s concerned voice made Peter realize what sound he had made and he blushed, looking up and nodding quickly.  
Unfortunately, Bruce had caught his eye before he could look back down.

“That was kind of random, what happened?” The scientist asked, tilting his head, similar to a confused puppy.

“O-oh um I-I-“ Peter stammered and Tony swooped in to rescue him, giving the teen a small smirk.

“Peter was fixing the hulk buster and shocked himself,” he explained briefly and Bruce nodded his head sending him a half smile in sympathy while Wanda let out a soft ‘oh.’

The witch looked as though she was considering something, bottom lip set firmly between her teeth as she stared down at the counter with her eyebrows furrowed. When she looked up, she immediately made eye contact with Peter and held out a gentle hand.

“May I?” She asked cautiously and Peter was confused for a second before it finally clicked and he set the injured hand on top of hers.

She brought her other hand up and her fingertips hovered a couple of inches above his injured one, red mist slowly started to swirl around her hand before it gently touched down onto the spot where the wire had connected with skin.

Peter didn’t know how to explain the feeling other than melted chocolate that had cooled but still wasn’t solid, it soothed the tingling feeling and the dull ache that she sharp pain had given the muscles in his hand. It was strangely relaxing and he hadn’t realized he had closed his eyes until the feeling had stopped and he blinked them open.

He decided to ignore the embarrassment creeping up his neck and lifted his hand from Wanda’s gentle grasp, slowly flexing his fingers and rolling his wrist experimentally, when nothing happened he smiled gratefully at the witch and she smiled back brightly.

“Since when can you do that?” Tony asked, confusion showing on his features as Wanda shrugged.

“I found a stray puppy that was injured and I was going to take it to the vet but I didn’t want to hurt him more than he already was, so I used my magic and when it had circled him completely his cuts started to heal and a few moments later he looked almost completely healthy.” She explained as Tony started scraping out the fried rice and chicken onto two different plates.

“Huh. And why didn’t you tell us this earlier?” Bruce asked and Wanda shrugged.

“I wanted to practice and get a hang of it before I mentioned anything.” Tony passed the plate to Peter and he took it gratefully, immediately shoveling the rice into his mouth. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was until he had smelled the chicken.

Once he had gotten a few mouthfuls down he leaned back a little and started eating more slowly, noticing the smirking faces of the three other people watching him eat.

Wanda’s magic had made him less tense and awkward and he wasn’t actively trying to avoid eye contact, smiling and laughing freely at Tony’s and Bruce’s banter. Sadly, that was all thrown out the window when the door opened and Natasha Romanov walked in.

Peter did like her and from what he could tell she liked him too, but she was also a super spy that could kill you 200 different ways with a safety pin. And that may intimidate Peter a little bit.

The redhead walked over and slid into the seat next to Peter, picking up a fork from the other side of the bar and stealing a piece of chicken from Tony and a bite of rice from Peter.

“Hey!” Tony whined and Natasha glanced at him as she chewed thoughtfully.

“It’s a little undercooked.” She commented and tossed the fork into the sink.

“Okay, first of all, rude. Second of all, I have a 16-year-old who was injured and has spider powers that make him hungry constantly!” Peter blushed again at the mention of him, so he just shoved another spoonful of rice into his mouth.

“Injured?” She questioned casually, but anyone who knew her well enough could hear the thin layer of concern hidden under her voice and the flash of worry in her eyes.

“Yeah, Pete got zapped but Wanda healed him.” Tony turned towards the brunette, “By the way, we need to have a team meeting about that.”

Wanda nodded and turned back to Peter, “Does your hand still feel okay?” The teen set his fork down and flexed his fingers again, nodding and smiling.

“Thank you..” he mumbled shyly and kept eating, ignoring the pairs of eyes on him like an expert.

“Your welcome, and if you ever get a headache from Mr. Ego over here, you can always come to my room and I’ll get rid of it.” Peter looked up at the smiling Wanda as Tony rolled his eyes at the insult.

“No, I wouldn’t want to bother you in your free time.” He refused and Wanda laughed quietly and reached over to pat his arm in reassurance.

“It’s okay, all I do is read, you won’t be a bother.” Peter seemed to consider saying no again before he finally just nodded and Wanda’s smile got even brighter, Natasha happened to notice that Bruce and Tony let a smile slip too. She didn’t even realize she was smiling at the kid until Tony looked over and smirked.

————————

It was on Peter’s twenty first visit (7th week) that Tony finally allowed him to pick a soundtrack to listen to while they worked. Tony realized that decision probably wasn’t a good one when Peter started snickering as he scrolled through his options, but whatever, the damage was already done.

Tony truly realized his mistake when Peter finally chose something and a kids voice immediately filled the lab.

“Hurricane Katrina? More like hurricane tortilla!” Peter burst out laughing and eventually fell to the floor as more vines kept playing. Tony laid his head down on the table he was working at in exasperation, he went through this enough when the princess of Wakanda came to New York with her brother.

When Tony looked back up, Peter was still on the ground laughing so hard no sound was coming out. The brunette rolled his eyes and the corner of his mouth twitched up slightly, “Okay, kid. Get to work or the goddamn vines go off.”

The teen nodded and stood up, face red and eyes a little teary as he kept laughing, more quietly this time. Tony almost laughed a couple times too but he refused to make any noise because he knew Peter would use it against him for the rest of his life.

The thought made Tony’s eyebrows scrunch up. _Rest of his life?_ It was a figure of speech, sure, but what if he meant it? Tony set down a blueprint for a new suit for Peter and looked up at the kid as he wrote equations on the white board next to him, his face set in to serious mode, but still cracking a smile every few seconds or mouthing along to the stupid 7 second videos.

It was understandably hard for Tony to see this carefree teenager become an Avenger and risk his life every week, but he probably would and that meant that Tony and the team would be friends and teammates with him for the rest of their lives unless some horrible falling out happened which was unlikely.

Peter’s hand stopped scribbling across the board and he stood still for a couple of seconds, “I can feel you staring, Mr. Stark.” He finally said and Tony snapped out of his thoughts, “Am I doing something wrong? I could turn off the vines if they bother you that much!” The kid’s voice took on a worried tone as it did so often.

Tony shook his head even though Peter wasn’t looking at him and looked back down at his work, “You can’t really do anything wrong in here kid, and the stupid videos don’t bother me as much as I wish they did.”

Peter turned around and smiled at the billionaire, the billionaire just gave him a smirk in return. Peter’s smile brightened at that.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy this chapter! If you guys have any specific requests for relationships/interactions leave them in the comments! Also, if you want me to add any other characters (T’challa, Shuri, Harley, etc.) make sure to tell me!
> 
> Criticism and opinions are always welcome.
> 
> My official Tumblr and Instagram: spiritxwolf
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter gets an idea and goes to the tower on his day off.

When Peter woke up the first emotion that registered in his head was, _groggily excited._

What had happened was Peter had been dreaming about fighting with the Avengers (he had been studying their moves before bed) and Natasha had pulled out this kick-ass weapon that she had used to strangle a bad guy. Then he had woken up and immediately wanted to write down a description of the thing. After a very tired Peter was satisfied he crash landed on the bed and passed out.

When he got up at 6 AM, he glanced down at his desk and tilted his head in confusion, toothbrush sticking out of his mouth as he picked up the note. He had remembered the dream and the general idea, he just couldn’t remember what he wrote down.

**Widow weapon:  
23 rings**

Peter guessed that was supposed to mean 2-3.

**Kick ass choking method**

_Very eloquently put, Parker._

**Magnetic fishing line?? Or spidey formula with altered chemicals???**

He could kind of see it now, the dream was starting to get more blurry as he woke up more but he could kind of see it.

He walked back into the bathroom and finished brushing his teeth. By the time he was ready he was already 3 minutes late, so he just ran out the door, his breakfast forgotten on the counter.

————————

He started designing it in first period, he finished the draft in 3rd. It was a rough one since his teachers didn’t approve of doing science in their class, but it was there, it just didn’t make sense without context.

He started working on the formula for what a non-coherent Peter had called, ‘Magnetic fishing line’ in chemistry since his teacher was cool. The only way it would work was if the formula was very complicated, it required certain chemicals that he didn’t have access to in a school lab, that meant he would have to ask Mr. Stark, which meant that he would get questions from the billionaire that he wouldn’t really want to answer.

But he did really want to make these, even if Natasha didn’t use them, he could probably use them for something. Peter sighed and finished sketching the final draft, he didn’t know what size ring Natasha wore so his measurements were probably a little off, but whatever. He could fix that later.

“What are you doing?” MJ whispered, poking his spine to get his attention in case the whisper somehow escaped his incredible hearing. He turned around and looked at her, curiosity flickered across her face but it was gone before he could really process it. She reminded Peter of Black Widow in that way, not showing emotions fully.

“Designing something.” He whispered back and MJ raised an eyebrow, indicating she wanted to see it. Peter shook his head, “It’s not finished yet.” The girl shrugged her shoulders and he huffed a breath, passing the notebook to her not so subtly.

Her eyes wandered over the page, taking in the complicated design and formulas, the eraser marks and hard lines that showed his frustration at some points. She looked up and passed it back, “Who’s it for?”

Peter lifted one shoulder in a half shrug, “Hopefully Black Widow, she didn’t ask for it though so I don’t know if she’ll want it..” he trailed off and scrutinized his work, picking out flaws that weren’t there, MJ recognized this and cuffed his head.

“It looks good, don’t change anything.” He looked up at her, sighed, then looked back down at the paper.

“Okay, if you say so..” he set down the design and instead got to work experimenting on the different formulas, huffing as they didn’t work one after the other. He had no idea how that conversation with Mr. Stark would go.

°o°o°

Ned was a lot more curious when he saw Peter sketching in English.

He kept poking his arm as he worked and Peter kept ignoring him, he did want to talk to him but his teacher already hated him enough so he decided not to.

“Peter!” Ned finally whisper shouted and the teen looked over in alarm at the loud noise, Ned grinned and Peter realized he had lost his battle to pay attention to his work. “What are you working on?” Peter continued drawing small details that didn’t matter but answered Ned this time in a low voice.

“Weapon.” Ned kept asking questions and Peter kept his answers short and quiet.

“For who?”

“Black Widow.”

“Did she ask!?”

“No.”

“Did Tony ask?”

“No.”

“Did anyone ask?”

“..No.”

“Then why are you making it?”

Peter shrugged. He really didn’t know why he was making it, cause it looked cool? Cause he wanted to impress Natasha so she wouldn’t kill him in his sleep if he accidentally gave someone on her team a look she considered bad?

Ned sighed and leaned back in his chair, “You’re so complicated.” Peter snickered and a ruler landed hard on his desk, he would’ve jumped if his spidey-sense hadn’t gone off 5 seconds before it hit his desk. He looked up slowly, he spent enough time around Tony and Bruce that his puppy dog eyes were okay at best, the teacher looked at him suspiciously since he had no reaction to the very loud noise, but she just started lecturing him in a very harsh way.

“Do you find something funny, Mr. Parker?” Peter shook his head quickly and she narrowed her eyes, “Are you sure? Because if I heard correctly, you were laughing.” He shook his head again, he wasn’t a good liar. She narrowed her eyes more, it was starting look like she was in pain, and leaned forward, “Next time this happens you’re going straight to the office.” She stood up straight and walked back to her desk with stiff shoulders.

Peter looked over at Ned, who looked more scared than him, and gave him the ‘I told you so’ look. His English teacher definitely didn’t like him.

—————————

  
After 2 hours at home, doing nothing but homework and eating, Peter started pulling on his Spiderman suit. His phone rang and he sighed, hopping over one-footed with his left leg halfway through his suit, he didn’t bother looking at who was calling and just put his phone between his shoulder and ear.

“Hello?” His voice came out more strained then he meant it to as he grabbed the mask from the other side of his desk.

“ _Kid? You okay?_ ” Peter jumped and almost dropped his phone, whispering a harsh ‘Shit!’ Before he caught it and put it on speaker.

“H-Hey Mr. Stark!” His voice wobbled with him as he finally shoved his leg fully down the suit.

“ _Kid? Are you okay?_ ” Tony said more urgently and Peter grabbed his mask, again.

“Yeah, yeah. You just kind of called at the wrong time.” Peter pulled the spandex over his head and headed towards the window.

“ _God, you weren’t jacking off were you?_ ” Peter almost tripped in surprise and started blushing like crazy.

“W-what?? No, no of course not!” he stuttered and heard Tony sigh.

“ _Whatever, just- are you free right now?_ ” Peter looked over the skyscrapers of New York and hesitated.

“Um, I was kind of about to go on patrol. Why?” He opened the window and climbed out on the roof.

“ _Do you want to come over to the tower? Clint wants to see if you can beat him in Mario Cart._ ” Peter looked over his city once again worriedly and somehow Tony knew what he was thinking.

“ _Don’t worry, I’ve already asked your aunt and I can have JARVIS tell us if there are any major crimes._ ” Peter’s eyes land in the direction of the tower and he tilts his head.

“Okay, I’ll be over in 30 minutes. But before we start playing games, can I show you something in the lab?” _Now or never,_ Peter thought.

“ _Sure, kid._ ” The call ended and Peter looked over his body for a place to put his phone, he’s got to put some pockets on this suit. After not finding anything efficient enough, he just tucked it under his mask, next to his ear.

The swing from his roof to the tower was exhilarating, as was every swing that he took. He did end up stopping 3 muggings and put some distance between a shady man and a very scared looking woman.

He landed on the side of the building and knocked on the window, “Hey, Jarvis!” The window opened and he fell through, rolling onto the floor not very gracefully. He stood up, dusted his hands off and noticed the small cut on his arm, he poked it carefully and only felt mild discomfort so he shrugged it off and pulled his mask off before walking out of the empty room, looking up and down the hall for an elevator.

“To your left Mr. Parker.” Peter nodded and went left, walking quickly.

JARVIS took him up to the 67th floor and he wrung his hands nervously in front of the door to the common room before knocking quickly and stepping back immediately.

It didn’t take long for Tony to open the door, probably because Clint was trying to get there first based on the pouting archer standing behind Tony.

“Back off, Katniss.” Tony said over his shoulder and looked back at Peter, “the kid needs to show me something.” Peter stepped aside for Tony to pass and they headed down to the lab, Peter’s fingers twitching with either nervousness or excitement, he didn’t know.

When they walked through the doors, Peter immediately quickened his pace and set his phone down on a table, a picture of his very detailed drawing pulled up. “Project this please, JARVIS.” Peter asked and a blue hologram came up in front of him, an exact copy of the weapon.

Tony walked up behind him and studied the draft with interest, a hand rested on the teen's shoulders, “What’s this?” He asked as Peter messed with the size of the hologram.

“A weapon,” he hesitated, “for Black Widow..” Tony looked down at him.

“Did she ask?” Peter shook his head and Tony chuckled before going back to studying the rings.

“Purpose?” The billionaire questioned.

“Choking method,” he zoomed in more to focus on the top of the middle ring, “a type of string, similar to my webs just a bit more sturdier and thicker, comes out of here and she’ll have another pair on her other hand, made of a very strong magnet, I’m hoping to be able to make the string magnetic enough for it to connect.” He explained and zoomed out again.

“How do you plan on getting that done?” Tony asked, he probably already knew the answer, he just wanted to see if the kid had a plan.

The two talked science for 10 minutes before Peter closed down the hologram and they headed back up to the common room.

As soon as they walked in Clint dragged Peter over to the couch and sat him next to Captain America while he sat on his other side. Tony walked around the couch and passed the teen a glass of Dr. Pepper then sat on the loveseat next to Bruce.  
  
“By the way Natasha,” Tony paused to take a sip of his drink as the spy turned to look at him, “the weapon the kid is working on for you is awesome, you’re gonna love it.”

Peter’s head shot up as everyone’s eyes turned towards him, including Natasha’s. Tony sat smirking in the corner as the teen blushed scarlet and stuttered helplessly, “U-um, I mean, it doesn’t have to b-be for you if you don’t want it, I mean it was, um designed for you but obviously if you don’t want it I can use it, although it would probably need adjustments-“ he cut off his rambling, his face and neck dark red. He picked up his drink and took several sips to avoid eye contact.

“Did Tony or Clint ask you to make it?” Her voice was the same as it always was when she was talking to Peter. He shook his head and set down his drink wringing his hands quickly. “Why?”

Peter shrugged helplessly, “To make fighting easier?” He squeaked out and Tony chuckled and leaned forward to set his drink down.

“Go show her, kid. I’ll play with Clint for a round.” Peter looked at him in panic and the Black Widow smirked and stood up, he hesitantly did too and followed her with shuffling feet into the kitchen.

“Why are you wearing the spider suit?” She asked quietly as he set his phone on the counter with slightly shaking hands. _Your spidey sense isn’t going off, Parker. You’re safe, you can trust an Avenger._

“I-I was about to go on patrol when Mr. Stark called,” he explained, he was talking too fast but Natasha seemed like she could easily hear him, “JARVIS, hologram please.” The blue screen once again popped up with the triple rings drawn perfectly with formulas scribbled around it.

“S-so,” he reached out with his left hand and started explaining what he had told Tony in the lab, “this is where the string will come out, once I have the other one designed it will be made out of a strong magnetic material to attract it. The string will be sturdy and thick enough it won’t break easily especially on human skin.” He stopped for a second and was moving the hologram to explain the formula but Natasha’s gentle hand grabbed his forearm and stopped him.

“What happened to your arm?” She let her fingers drift across the darkened area of spandex where blood had seeped through from the cut. He stopped and looked down at the place where her hand was near and shrugged one shoulder.

“I had to stop 3 muggers on my way over here, one of them must’ve caught my arm with a pocket knife or something. It happens, it doesn’t really hurt.” She moved her hand across it again and muttered in Russian under her breath before looking back up at the hologram.

“It looks effective, did you give it a name like Clint’s spear?” She asked with a small twitch of her lips as Peter opened his mouth.

“Yeah..” he mumbled and flicked a piece of food off the counter.

“What is it?”

“Aranrings..” he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Aranrings,” she repeated, “I like it.” The redhead looked over at the couch where Clint was yelling at Tony to get out of his lane, Tony yelled something back about how there is no lanes.

“It’s better than The Talon!” She said loudly and the archer whipped around.

“What did you say about my baby??” Peter laughed and swiped the hologram back into his phone, then walked back to the couch with Natasha. He sat back down in between Steve and Clint.

“Tony give the kid the controller, he probably doesn’t cheat.” Tony rolled his eyes and tossed it over Clint’s head, Peter caught it easily and leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees as Clint picked the next level.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know during the Ned and Peter scene, Peter seems like he’s being kind of mean, he’s not, he just didn’t want to get in trouble.
> 
> Criticism and opinions are always welcome.
> 
> My official Tumblr and Instagram: spiritxwolf
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apparently Loki is now in this story and Peter is sad
> 
> TW- heavy angst and descriptions of a mugging and violence

Standing in the middle of the Avengers facility with an actual god standing to your left and an ex-assassin on your right when you were supposed to be in school was a lot more intimidating then people would think.

Peter didn’t even know why he was here, Tony had refused to explain when he came and picked him up.

He glanced around the group of people nervously as they waited for Ant-Man and Falcon. They were all in suits, including Peter, because Tony had given him a brand new one once they had parked in front of the skyscraper and told him to get dressed.

The two superheroes walked through the door and they all immediately started talking, Peter got lost almost as soon as it happened.

“Thor we can’t-“

“It will only be for a couple of-“

“Thor-“

“I don’t see what the problem is-“

“The problem? The problem is you’re inviting-“

“He’ll be-“

“Under surveillance? He’s a goddamn madman Thor! I don’t understand-“

“Um. E-excuse me?” Peter raised his hand halfway before putting it back down awkwardly.

Everyone stopped talking and looked at the teen. Peter shrunk back under their gazes and looked at Tony.

“What’s, um, happening?” Everyone’s eyes snapped to Thor as he just rolled his.

“This _moron_ -“ Tony started, sending a pointed glare to the god.

“Watch who you’re calling a moron, _moron_.” Thor shot back and Tony scoffed.

“This moron thinks it’s a good idea to bring his _psychotic_ brother back to the place that he tried to take over 7 years ago!” The billionaire ended up right in front of Thor with his jaw clenched and face turning red, Peter was kind of afraid he’d try and blow the god up.

The teen looked between the two as Bruce pulled him back, eyes wide with curiosity and zero signs of judgment or an opinion, “Loki?” He kept his eyes on Thor, “Why?”

Tony scoffed again, “Why doesn’t matter right now, the answer is no.”

Thor ignored him and looked back at Peter with serious/pleading look in his eyes, “Loki has changed, the Loki in New York wasn’t him, he was being controlled and tortured by a mad titan that goes by the name Thanos.” Tony froze slightly at the name, but his determined gaze returned less then a second later.

“It doesn’t matter if he went through a goddamn _redemption arc_ to you, I almost died from his attack! The only reason I’m alive is because a green rage monster screamed at me!” Bruce and Peter flinched at Tony’s yelling, but Thor seemed unfazed.

“My brother saved a lot of people from Asgard after the events of Ragnarok, he’s currently staying with a Valkyrie on my friends home planet.” Peter tilted his head and looked at Tony and Clint, who looked very withdrawn, then back to Thor.

“I don’t really have a problem, but I guess my opinion doesn’t matter.” He shrugs and looks down.

“You’re gonna be affected by this too, Peter. Your opinions matter.” Wanda comforted, Peter just shrugged once again and Steve looked at him curiously.

“You really aren’t scared of this guy?” He asked and Peter shook his head.

“Not really, why should I be if he was being controlled to attack?” Sam looked kind of impressed which Peter took as a win.

“Who told you this?” Tony looked at Thor and raised a brow.

“Loki.”

“Jesus Christ!” The brunette threw his hands up in exaggeration and stalked towards the kitchen, probably to get a drink, “You’re going to trust the god of mischief, who’s favorite pastime is lying and manipulating?”

“Why do you think he looked so sick?” Peter asked and tilted his head as Tony sighed once again and Bruce gave him a curious look, but before he could ask him anything Tony came back to the group with an amber drink in his hand.

“Because he was carrying a very powerful stone that was formed at the beginning of the universe at all times?” Tony answered sarcastically and Peter subtly rolled his eyes.

“Or maybe, if he was being tortured he was using his magic to cover up his injuries, which in turn drained him and made him look sick.” Thor gave Tony a smug look and the billionaire just looked at Peter.

“Are you actually supporting this idea??” Peter took a tiny step back and looked around at the Avengers as they studied him carefully. Tony looked between Thor and Peter with bewilderment written across his features clearly, “Fine. Fine, whatever! But you are not allowed to go near him, you are not allowed to talk to him, you are not even allowed to look at him. Got it?” Peter nodded quickly and Thor smiled.

“Thank you, Stark.” The god did a small bow in gratitude and Tony just took a drink from his glass.

“So. Why did we have to suit up?”

—————————

The mission was truly exhausting, Peter spent most of his time climbing skyscrapers and reporting what he saw to Tony. His back and legs ached so badly he could barely move, he had a sharp pain in his neck and a headache was blooming in the back of his head.

Laying on Tony’s expensive couch was like laying on a cloud to Peter’s exhausted mind, just as his eyes closed and he started to drift off, his phone rang very loudly and startled Peter off of it.

The Avengers laughed as the teen muttered a string of cuss words out of frustration and stood up again, grabbing his phone and pressing it to his ear with a half smile on his face as he tried to rub the tiredness from his eyes.

“Hey, Ned.” Chatter came from the other end as the teen flopped back on to the couch, Peter closed his eyes and listened to his friend as he whispered excitedly about how he saw Spiderman at the top of the Empire State Building as Iron Man flew across the sky behind him.

“It was like, straight out of a movie dude!” Peter scoffed and tried to imagine what that life would be like.

“If I was an actor in a superhero movie I wouldn’t be-“ Peter reminded himself that people, the Avengers, were in the room with him and snapped his mouth shut. He heard a sigh from Ned and hated the feeling of pity radiating through his cracked phone.

“Yeah, I know. Anyway, I’m going to go have a Star Wars marathon. I’ll see you at school on Monday.” Peter made a sound of betrayal at the mention of the marathon, but said his goodbye and hung up, tossing the phone bag onto the table and wincing at the sound it made.

“You’re going to break that thing even more if you don’t stop throwing it around.” Tony commented and handed Peter an Advil with a glass of water, he took the pill without saying anything about how it wouldn’t help and acknowledged Tony’s words with a nod of his head as he swallowed the medication.

He looked up at the billionaire as he sat down at the end of the couch and turned the TV on, Peter debated saying anything, the awkwardness in his limbs showing as he tried to break the silence that had settled between all of them.

“H-hey, Mr. Stark?” He asked quietly and Tony looked over at him with a ‘go ahead’ look on his face. “Um, do you have-do you have a spare room I could take a nap in?”

Tony cracked a small smile, “Sure kid, Cap can you show him one?” Peter looked over at the blonde soldier in shock and felt a little stunned as he nodded and stood up. Peter stood up very quickly and he felt all the blood rush down to his feet as he swayed slightly and tried to regain focus.

After blushing and apologizing for making the captain wait, the two made their way to the elevator and stood in awkward silence as it traveled downwards to the 43rd floor.

The room followed a white and light blue theme, with a king sized bed, a memory-foam mattress with cloud gray sheets and a marshmallow of a comforter. The rug was a sky blue and the carpet was incredibly soft, a beanbag rested in the corner next to a bookshelf filled to the brim with everything from science books to fairytales. A desk sat next to the door with a swivel chair and a state of the art computer.

“Wow.” Peter looked around the room and Steve chuckled, already used to Tony’s extravagant rooms. The super soldier watched as Peter walked over to the book shelf and ran his fingers over the spines, eyes lighting up every so often with recognition.

“You’re a good kid, Pete.” Steve commented casually, and Peter ripped his eyes away from the science book section in surprise.

“What?” He asks, dumbfounded at the compliment. The captain shrugs, looking as righteous as ever as he looks the teen in the eye.

“You’re smart, you’re brave, you stand up for what’s right even if it means going against direct orders, you’re kind and generous and you put your life on the line every night that you can to help New York. You’re a good kid, Peter.” The teen opened his mouth and then closed it in shock as he blushed once again.

“Um.. thanks? It’s- that means a lot coming from you.” Steve looked down a chuckled quietly, then looked back up.

“Can I ask, why do you do it?” Peter got this question a lot, Ned asked it, May asked it, MJ asked it, Tony asked it. Everyone wanted to know why a normal kid would want to save people from everyday crimes.

The teen shrugged and sat on the bed, Steve following, “I guess..” he trailed off and bit his lip then took a deep breath, “I guess cause I could never do it before? I’ve lived in New York my entire life, muggings and bank robberies were never an uncommon thing to me, but I could never do anything when I passed an alley and saw someone against a wall with a knife to their throat,” Peter winced at that memory, “that was asking for a bullet to the shoulder, maybe even the head. When I got bit, I _could_ do something. People didn’t have to be attacked on the streets and be left wallet-less and bleeding in a dark alley behind a fancy restaurant or bar anymore. A dog didn’t have to wait at the front door waiting for an owner that wasn’t coming home. A kid didn’t have to get a phone call from the police department telling them that their relative had died on the street corner from a stab wound to the chest.”

Peter choked on the last sentence, he felt tears swell in the back of his eyes but he refused to cry. Especially in front of Captain America who had lost everything and woke up in the future, remembering his past and not knowing why he wasn’t dead.

A few tears still found their way down his face and he looked away, trying to collect himself as he stared at the fluffy blue pillows. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he didn’t need to look to know that Steve had pity decorating his eyes, “Can I give you a hug, Peter?”

As much as the teen wanted to refuse, to not bother the man that didn’t ask for an angsty teenager to take care of, his body ignored his wishes and he nodded. Warm arms wrapped around him easily and he laid his head on the captain’s shoulder, he didn’t sob uncontrollably like in all the movies, he just let his tears fall silently with a few shaking breaths taken in between.

He didn’t know how long they sat there, he hoped it wasn’t too long, but he finally got control of his emotions and lifted his head up. A sharp pain echoed down his neck and he ignored it, his eyes were completely bloodshot and his lungs felt weak.

Steve stood up and walked away to the desk, opening the first drawer and grabbing a tissue box. He handed it to a sniffling Peter and gave him a small smile, the teen wiped at his nose and dried his face off, then set the box down on the nightstand.

Steve rubbed his shoulder comfortingly, and Peter did a half-laugh and looked down, “I’m a mess aren’t I?” His voice was shot and his throat felt like it wasn’t working correctly, he looked up and nodded his head at Steve once, “Thank you. You didn’t ask for that.”

The soldier shook his head, “You aren’t a mess, Peter. You’re human.” He removed his hand and studied the teenager as his face cleared up a bit and his eyes lost some of the puffiness, “You remind me of someone..” Steve trailed off and sighed, “Will you be okay for the rest of the night?” Peter nodded and Steve sighed once again and walked to the door.

“You’re a good kid, Peter.” He said one last time over his shoulder and closed the door softly. Peter stared at the white painted wood for awhile, processing everything that happened.

He looked away and then stood up on wobbly legs, they were still sore, and made his way to the bathroom. Turning on the sink and staring at his reflection before gathering water in his hands and splashing his face, he felt like an idiot. He didn’t have the right to go and cry on Captain America’s shoulder because of his problems, it had been five years since Ben had died and he still hadn’t gotten over it?

_Clean up your act, Parker. People have it way worse than you._

He dried his hands off on the fluffy towel and walked back out to the bedroom, a pile of clothes were sitting neatly folded on the bed and he looked at the closed door in confusion, shrugging and walking over to the pair of pants and a t-shirt, both black and soft.

He stripped out of his Spiderman suit that was dirty from the New York air and pulled the shirt over his head and slipped into the pants. They were both his size, which was surprising but he decided not to question it, so he got into bed and savored the feeling of sinking into the wonderful mattress before he fell asleep.

—————+——————

_It was dark. Too dark for New York. Too quiet for New York._

_Brick walls surrounded Peter, the air felt thin, a musty smell filled his nose and he coughed, the sound bouncing off the brick walls and echoing into the shadows._

_He felt cold, he felt like he was barefoot but he couldn’t look down. Only up towards the foggy sky, there was no sign of any stars or any clouds, it was just a giant black shadow above him._

_Then he was standing in the middle of a busy street, cars raced past him and honking horns almost deafened him, he felt dizzy as another car almost whisked him off his feet. No one seemed to notice him._

_Then he looked up and saw his uncle Ben, he wanted to scream and cry and just tell him goodbye because yeah, Peter remembers this nightmare now._

_Ben turns the corner, a Walmart grocery bag in his hands and he’s whistling. He’s whistling a tune from the early 90’s because he doesn’t know. He doesn’t see the 6 foot tall man come out of the alley and he doesn’t realize what happening until he’s up against a wall and forced to empty his wallet, take off his watch, and empty his pockets._

_Peter’s right next to him the entire time, tears streaming down his face as he screams and screams and just yells at the man to leave him alone, but his voice is nothing among of the honking horns and screeching tires._

_Ben does everything the man asks, his eyes wide and full of fear as his shaking hands grab his wallet and he throws it on the ground along with his keys and a couple of coins, his license still tucked securely in his shirt pocket that’s underneath his jacket._

_The man smiles manically then picks up Ben’s belongings, an arm across his uncle’s chest keeping him in place as the man puts the wallet and everything else into his bag filled with other people’s belongings._

_Then, there’s a pocket knife buried in Ben’s chest as he chokes on his words, begging for his life as blood spills over his lips. Peter screams and the man walks away, admiring the new watch on his wrist._

_Peter falls to his knees next to his dying uncle and sobs, sobs so hard he can’t breathe. Ben looks up at him with eyes clouded with pain he opens his mouth and coughs, more blood dripping onto the ground._

_He opens his mouth once more and utters 4 words, “You could’ve stopped this.”_

_Peter cries as his uncle goes limp and his eyes stare blankly at the starless sky._

_Peter cries over the dead body in the back alley, blaming himself over and over and over._

_Peter screams and doesn’t stop._

—————+——————

He wakes up paralyzed and scared and so unbelievably he sad, he thinks it’s just another nightmare. Then he looks around and he’s in the same room, on the same memory-foam mattress, and he’s reminded that this is real life and Uncle Ben is actually dead.

Peter kicks off the marshmallow comforter and pulls his knees up underneath his chin, eyes watering quickly before tears are cascading down his face once again.

He sobs into the soft pajama bottoms and remembers the phone call, remembers crying into May’s chest as she cried into his hair, remembers not wanting to eat, not being able to sleep, his grades plummeting and Aunt May’s cries from her room.

His lungs shook and his head felt too heavy, he could hear JARVIS’s voice but he couldn’t understand what he was saying.

It took him 15 minutes to regain control of himself, 15 minutes of uncontrollable shaking and sobbing until he could stand up and unsteadily stumble to the bathroom.

It took him 3 tries before he could actually turned the faucet on, the ice cold water he splashes on his face brings him back to his reality and he gasps and stares into the eyes of his reflection.

He recognizes this Peter from 5 years ago, but not present day. He splashes his face once again, the white marble counter is covered in water from his shaking hands spilling the water everywhere.

JARVIS’s voice makes him jump and hit his knee on the cabinet handle.

“Mr. Parker?” Peter sighs and braces himself on the wet counter, head hanging down, “Would you like me to wake Sir?”

Peter shakes his head and gave a grim smile, “Mr. Stark never sleeps, I’ll let him have this one night.” He pauses and stands up straight, taking a deep breath to steady himself, “Can you take me to the kitchen?”

“Of course, Mr. Parker. Ms. Romanov is currently there, would you like me to tell her you’re coming?” JARVIS’s voice carried a hint of understanding and Peter realized that Tony probably has nightmares every time he falls asleep.

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Of course, Mr. Parker.” JARVIS guided him back to the elevator and the AI took him back to floor 67.

Natasha was sitting on the couch when he walked in, she didn’t flinch, she just gave him a nod and continued watching the movie playing quietly on the TV.

The time on the microwave read 3:46 AM and Peter sighed, Tony had somehow convinced May to let him spend the night. He fixed a cup of hot chocolate with the help of JARVIS guiding him around the filled cabinets.

He held the cup close to his chest, soaking in the warmth as his shaking hands faded to a slight tremble. Peter curled up into the loveseat and rested his chin against the arm as he watched the movie that Natasha had decided on whenever she had come down here. The hot chocolate helped, it soothed his sore throat and the sweet smell helped him get his breathing back under control.

Natasha flicked her eyes back and forth between the screen and a traumatized Peter Parker before her eyes finally settled on the latter, “Nightmare?” Peter nodded, flinching slightly as he sat up and placed the mug on the coffee table. Natasha paused then sat on the edge of the couch, “Wanna talk about it?”

Peter copied her position and looked down at his hands, he didn’t know how to start, Natasha knew how that felt.

“What was the focus in it?” Peter rubbed his face with one hand and opened his mouth, obviously struggling to get the words out.

“M-my, um..” he took a deep breath, “Uncle Ben’s d-murder.” Natasha felt sympathy rush through her and she wanted to reach out and comfort him, but she knew he wasn’t ready for physical contact yet.

“How did it start?” She let her voice drop to a softer tone and that seemed to help Peter relax.

“How it always does.” Repeating nightmare, Natasha huffed a quiet breath, “I’m surrounded by brick walls and it’s dark and quiet and I can’t look down, only up at this sky that’s just.. just a shadow and it’s so cold. Then I’m in the middle of a busy street and no one can see me and everyone’s nearly hitting me, it’s so loud now and I can’t focus on one sound.” Peter’s eyebrows scrunch up and his voice breaks as he explains further, “and I look up and I see Uncle Ben and he walks around the street corner and then a man without a face pulls him into the alley and he’s-he has this _smile_ and he tells Ben to give him everything and Ben does, he doesn’t fight he just gives in and empties his pockets and drops his wallet and watch and this man just looks so goddamn _happy_. He picks up the stuff and he-“ Peter swallows and leans on his knees, “he stabs him and walks away like he didn’t just murder someone, I’m the one that catches Ben and helps him fall down and he’s bleeding and I can’t do anything and Ben looks at me and tells me I could’ve stopped this and he-he dies.”

Natasha watches as this happy-go-lucky teenager who smiles at everyone and helps watch out for New York, _breaks_. He doesn’t cry, he just goes limp and stares at the ground with such a haunted look in his eye it’s hard not to cry for him.

The redhead stands up with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and sits next to Peter gently, she hesitates slightly when she raises her hand then puts it on the teen’s shoulder blade carefully. His breathing hitches slightly and she gets nervous that she’s overstepping but he just shakes his head and sits up, his eyes are watering but he’s not crying, he gives her a watery smile and she can feel her mask slipping.

“Can I-“ His voice cracks and he clears his throat and tries again, “Can I give you a hug?” He sounds like he’s expecting a rejection but Natasha’s mask falls off and she lets it and nods, lifting her arms up and he leans forward and wraps his arms around her waist and buries his head into her collarbone.

She rests her arms around his back, covering him in the blanket as well, and lifts a hand up to place it on the back of his head.

Natasha sets her chin on top of his head as his breathing becomes shakier and she can feel his tears fall onto her skin and she doesn’t mind.

Peter knows he should back off, but he just needs anything maternal at the moment and maybe Natasha Romanov is just that, so he pulls himself closer and lets himself cry.

The ex-assassin closes her eyes and lets a tear fall for the broken teenager that she’s holding at 4 AM.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry! So yeah, apparently Loki is now in this story, I don’t know how that happened but it did. If this triggered anyone I’m so very sorry that wasn’t my intention, I wanted to really dive in to Peter’s real problems before another boatload of angst comes in.
> 
> Criticism and opinions are always welcome.
> 
> My official Tumblr and Instagram: spiritxwolf
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony takes care of Peter, Peter has a sensory overload, the Avengers and Peter have dinner, a discussion of Peter’s favorite Avenger happens, hairstylist!Peter, AgeofUltron!Natasha, InfintyWar!Peter, Purplehaired!Peter

“I am officially so sleep deprived I can now smell colors.” Peter walked into the lab with bags under his eyes and tossed his backpack next to the door as he always did. Tony looks up from leaning over the inside of a StarkPhone with an eyebrow raised at the teenager as he immediately got to work on a half-finished sedative for the hulk.

“How long has it been since you’ve slept?” The genius asked and Peter glanced down at his watch.

“53 hours and 22 minutes.” 53 hours and 22 minutes since he fell asleep on the Black Widow’s lap and had another nightmare about everyone he loved dying and him having to watch.

“Jesus Christ, kid..” Tony muttered and walked around the desk, grabbing Peter’s shoulders and pushing him over to a couch in the corner.

Peter whined about it the entire time and Tony shook his head, “No. I’m not letting you turn yourself into me.” Peter pouted as he sat on the leather couch and crossed his arms.

“No science today. You’re sleeping for the next 2 hours.” Peter looked up with wide eyes that Tony was tempted to say yes to.

“But Mr. Stark-!” He whined and Tony grabbed a nearby blanket and tossed it on top of the teen’s head.

“No. Sleep.” Peter tossed the blanket off his head and huffed, but laid back onto the pillow without argument and passed out.

Peter didn’t have any nightmares, which he was so very relieved about because Tony still didn’t know about that night since Peter had made JARVIS promise not to tell him. He didn’t want his mentor to worry about his mental health when there was nothing to worry about.

He woke up two hours later from Tony shaking him gently and whispering his name, giving him a sympathetic look as the teen huffed and rolled over, “Come on, kid. You need to go home or else Aunt Hottie will kill me.”

Peter turned his head squinted at Tony, “Ew. Don’t call her that.” Tony chuckled and Peter sat up, rubbing his eyes and fussing with his hair.

“Hey.” The genius stopped Peter as he stood up and looked him in the eye, “I don’t mind if you go on patrol, but for god’s sake kid, _go to sleep._ ” Peter just nodded blearily and yawned as Tony patted his shoulder and walked him to the lab door.

He watched his intern walk out with a small smirk and looked over to his hidden compartment in the wall, “JARVIS, lights to 60%.” The lab darkened and the billionaire grabbed a remote, the walls opening to reveal the Iron Spider suit.

“I think this would be an appropriate time to use something that Mr. Wilson once called you.” Tony chuckled and searched through his materials.

“And what is that, J?”

“A hypocrite.”

——————————

Peter hated the end of the school year. He loved it, but he hated it a lot. It was kind of a fucked up relationship.

The last two months were when he crammed himself with knowledge he already knew just to be prepared for the next years classes, he doesn’t know why he does it, it just kind of became a habit after the third grade.

A headache was bouncing around the inside of his skull and he winced as an especially sharp pain hit his temple. Tony’s bright lab lights didn’t help at all and the tiny words of his textbook didn’t help much either, he should be working on Sam’s new missile’s but being an anxious high school student didn’t really work with that idea.

As soon as Tony stepped out of the lab, JARVIS’s voice broke him out of his studying state and he winced as the lights became brighter, then lower.

“Mr. Parker. If I may interject with you’re studying, I think it would be a good idea to go visit Ms. Maximoff and take her up on that offer to help with any minor injuries.” Peter shook his head and he felt like his brain was being battered.

“I don’t wanna bother her..” he winced and clamped his hands over his ears as the beeping from one of Tony’s projects became too loud and the lights became impossibly brighter.

“Mr. Parker I would strongly advise you go see her as it seems you are experiencing a sensory overload.” Peter nodded his head slowly and shut his eyes tightly as he stood up and made his way to the door.

“Can you tell Mr. Stark where I am?” Peter asked and winced at the sound of his own voice.

“Of course, Mr. Parker. For now I will guide you to Ms. Maximoff’s room.” Peter half stumbled through the halls and half carried himself on the walls until he finally made it to Wanda’s floor. His own knocking was enough for him to whimper and the door opened, Wanda taking his appearance in and then pulling him into the room gently, making sure to close the door softly.

The darkened room helped and he opened his watering eyes and looked up at her as she walked towards him and guided him to the bed to sit him down.

“Hey, Peter.” She kneeled in front of him and brushed back a curl, “Can you relax a little bit, I’m gonna help, I promise.” Peter slowly removed his hands from his ears and Wanda nodded encouragingly and set a gentle hand on his knee, “Good, I’m gonna touch your head okay?” He relaxed his shoulders and she smiled carefully and lifted her hand to touch his temple gently.

He sighed as the cool chocolate feeling filled his head and the headache receded slowly. He slumped forward in relief and Wanda took her hand away, he blinked his eyes open and the witch swept another curl back with a half-smile, “Are you okay now?” She asks quietly and he nods with a sigh.

“Yeah. Thank you.” He mumbled and Wanda helped him stand up just as Tony Stark burst through the door.

“Peter? Hey, are you okay?” The billionaire rushed over and took the teen from Wanda’s gentle grasp, “J told me what happened, are you okay? You’re okay now, right?” He looked up at Wanda, “He’s okay, right?” The girl nodded carefully and smirked slightly at Tony’s protectiveness. Peter nodded as well and Tony exhaled heavily and shook Peter once, gently, “Don’t do that to me, kid.”

Peter looked down in an ashamed way, “Sorry.” He muttered and the billionaire just shook his head.

“It’s not your fault, just-“ he sighed and took a step back, taking his hands off Peter’s shoulders, “Tell me if you’re having a goddamn sensory overload next time, okay?”

“Okay.”

————————

Peter never really interacted with Bucky Barnes, the only time they every really said anything to each other was when the soldier had given Peter the remote.

So when the teenager walked into the common room to ask Steve what they were having for dinner, since he was staying later now, he was surprised to find himself alone with The Winter Soldier aka White Wolf aka James Buchanan Barnes.

“Uh.. Hey.” Peter greeted in the awkward way that he does and Bucky looked up from where he was leaning over a stove and stirring something.

“Hey.” He was much more casual and Peter didn’t know what else to do other than sit down on the couch and turn the TV on.

He tried to find something to watch but there was literally nothing on that was worth anyone’s time, so he decided to put the Kardashian’s on ironically. Bucky snorted from behind the bar and Peter cracked a smile.

They watched two episodes of the Kardashian’s and one episode of some other show that Peter can’t remember the name of before Bucky finished cooking and everyone was called down (or up, it depends on what floor you were on) to eat.

Peter sat between Natasha and Tony, per the redhead’s request, and piled his plate with the pasta that made Peter’s mouth water just looking at it. With two super soldiers and a teenager that had fast-metabolism as a side effect from his powers, the first quarter of food was gone pretty quickly.

“Hey, Pete. Is that bully of yours still bothering you?” Tony asked as Peter held the food literally and inch from his mouth. He choked on air and dropped his fork back on to the plate as all eyes turned towards him, honestly that was happening on a daily basis now.

“Bully?” Wanda tilted her head curiously and Peter ducked his head and picked his fork back up.

“Spiderman has high school bullies?” Clint asked and Bucky slapped his arm. Peter just shoved his fork into his mouth to avoid answering questions.

Tony nudged him and Peter looked up, “You didn’t answer my question.” Tony raised a brow and Peter felt himself shrink slightly, “Is he still bothering you?”

Peter swallowed and thought about the last month, there was that time where flash tripped him on purpose, but that didn’t really count. He hadn’t stopped calling him penis but Peter didn’t really care about that. He cheated off his homework and normally bumps into his shoulder when they pass each other in the halls. Peter shook his head, “No, I think you scared him off.”

Tony nodded his head proudly, “Good. If he does start up again, tell Natasha.”

Peter looked in between the two Avengers and then at the rest of the table who nodded in agreement, “Okay.”

Let’s be honest, Peter wouldn’t tell anyone anything about his school life unless it was life threatening, which it wasn’t.

They all ate together, Sam and Bucky bickering, Tony, Bruce and Peter talking about an idea for building Bucky a new arm, Wanda talking to Thor about Loki’s magic, Steve smiling at everyone getting along, and Natasha stealing Peter away from Tony every few minutes to ask how everything was.

It was like Christmas dinner 7 months early.

————————

Peter didn’t have a favorite Avenger (Tony refused to accept that as an answer) from 6 to 10 he loved Iron Man, from 11 to 13 he loved Hulk, and from 13 to 15 he loved Captain America. Then he started working in the Superhero community as an official vigilante and refused to title any one as his favorite.

“Bullshit! You have to have a favorite!” Tony claimed and Peter looked up from leaning over a microscope.

“You just want me to say Iron Man.” Tony scoffed and Peter rolled his eyes.

“No I don’t.” Peter just looked at him and Tony looked back, “Is it Iron Man?”

“No, because I don’t have a favorite.” Tony threw his hands up in exasperation and Peter laughed as he leaned back over to study the piece of alien tech.

“Hawkeye?”

“No.”

“Captain America?”

“No.”

“Black Widow?”

“No.”

“Scarlet Witch?”

“No.”

“Falcon?”

“No.”

“White Wolf?”

“No.”

“Vision?”

“No.”

“Hulk?”

“No.”

“War Machine?”

“No.”

“Thor?” Peter hesitated and turned the zoom on the microscope to cover it up.

“No.” He finally answered and he saw Tony jump up from the stool he was sitting on.

“You hesitated!” Peter looked up again and masked his face with confusion.

“What? No I didn’t.” Tony poked him playfully.

“Liar. Thor’s your favorite!” Peter shook his head but smirked slightly and Tony poked him again, “You can’t lie to me, I’m your boss.”

“If I said yes would you care?” Tony tilted his head and thought about it.

“Yes.” Peter smiled playfully.

“Then no, Thor is not my favorite.” Tony rolled his eyes and groaned loudly.

“Looks like someone isn’t getting a paycheck this month.” Natasha commented as she walked in and Peter looked over his shoulder with a small smile.

“He’s an intern, he doesn’t get paid in the first place.” Natasha smirked and set a hand on Peter’s shoulder as she stood beside him. Tony glanced from the hand to Peter’s face and back again, “Oh god, please don’t say she’s corrupted you.” Natasha scoffed in a fake offended manner and Peter’s smile grew a little bit.

“Of course not, how does someone like me corrupt someone like him? If anyone is going to influence him in a bad way it’s either gonna be you or Clint.” Tony laid a hand over his arc reactor in the same mock offense that Natasha had done earlier.

Peter seemed to be ignoring the conversation and playing with a piece of material before his eyes lit up from remembering something, “Oh, I forgot! The Aranrings are ready, well kind of, I mean they’re ready to be tested.” Natasha let a small smile slip as the teen ran off and Tony raised a brow in recognition.

“Are you going soft for Spiderman, Widow?” The redhead huffed a laugh and turned back to the billionaire, throwing a pen at him that was laying on Peter’s table.

“Of course not, but he doesn’t annoy me and that earns him a few points.” Tony rolled his eyes and tossed the pen back as Peter started walking towards them.

“I count that as going soft.” She set the pen down exactly where it was before as Peter approached them.

“Whatever, Stark.” She shot back sarcastically and Peter looked between them curiously before handing the pair of black rings to Natasha. She slipped them on and the teen let a breath out in relief that they fit okay.

She pressed the button on the outside of her index finger and what was supposed to had been similar to the spider webs came out more as a wire than anything else and connected to the other set quickly. She pulled at them and twisted it experimentally, Peter noticed the slight stiffness and winced.

“I’ll fix that, this is just one of the designs.” Natasha nodded and pressed the button again then pulled off the rings and placed them back into Peter’s hand.

“Okay, well,” she turned back to Tony with mischief glittering in her eyes and he sighed, “I’m stealing your intern for the next hour and a half, I’m not going to hurt him so don’t worry too much.”

“Where are we going?” Peter set the rings down behind the microscope and looked up at Natasha in confusion.

Tony raised his chin slightly and crossed his arms, “Yeah, where are you taking him?” Natasha rolled her eyes and glared at him in defiance.

“The hair salon at Shield.” Tony stood up immediately and pulled Peter over to him protectively.

“Oh no, you are not dying the kid’s hair hot pink!” Peter looked up at his mentor then back at Natasha.

“Why not?”

“For me, you idiot.” The two spoke at the same time then both looked at Peter in surprise.

Tony hesitated and studied him carefully, “Your aunt is going to kill me, but fine, if you wanna dye your hair you can.” Peter smile was extremely bright and he bounced once on the balls of his feet before standing normally at Natasha’s side as she arched a brow in question at Tony.

“Go on, Peter. You can pick the car from Tony’s garage.” The teen ran off without asking any questions and Tony sat back down and looked up at the spy.

“Are you going soft for Spiderman?” She asked mockingly and Tony sighed and shrugged.

“I can’t answer that.” He stated and turned to the table, grabbing the Aranrings and twisting them around in his hand.

“Who would’ve thought Tony Stark would be a father.” He looked up and chuckled.

“Happy mentioned the same thing.” He set the weapon down and picked up Peter’s notes on the tech instead.

“Good to know someone other than me and Pepper can read you.” He scoffed but didn’t comment on it, flipping through the kid’s doodles and random ideas. She tilted her head as he smiled down at the papers, “You’re doing better.” It wasn’t a question, just a statement.

He shrugged again, and she set a hand on his shoulder then turned and left.

“Well, we know who her favorite Avenger is.” Tony looked up and there was Clint, looking down at him with a grin on his face from the vent. The billionaire rolled his eyes and set down Peter’s notes.

“I thought I banned you from my lab?” He questioned and stood up, walking back over to his new mark 50 suit.

“You did, you didn’t ban me from the vents.” Clint sassed back and JARVIS dropped the only piece of ceiling that was holding him up and he dropped to the floor, landing on his feet.

“His favorite Avenger is Thor, right?” Tony asked as he got to work and Clint came over and sat on a nearby desk chair.

“Oh yeah, definitely.”

——————————

“Are you seriously gonna let me dye my hair?” Peter asked, looking up from a magazine of different hairstyles as they waited for the stylist.

Natasha took a sip of her drink and looked at him through the mirror, she saw him differently than she did before that night, and nodded, “Sure. Why not?” He smiled and she looked back down at her phone.

“What color should I get?” He asked 3 minutes later and she looked back up and turned around to really look at him, tilting her head and squinting her eyes.

“Turn your head to the left.” He followed her orders and she looked at it for a few seconds before telling him to turn the other way, “Maybe a really dark purple for exotic, and a lighter brown for natural.”

“Really?” He looked at himself in the mirror and tilted his head the same way Natasha had, “Huh. Okay.” He shrugged and Natasha smiled slightly and turned back around just as the stylist came in.

She had blonde hair with pastel pink tips that was tied up into a bun and was wearing a black v-neck and jeans, she noticed Peter immediately and smiled, “Hi, who are you?” She asked and Peter stuttered a bit before answering.

“I-I’m Peter.” She smiled and turned to Natasha without questioning him as the redhead smirked at him through he mirror.

“He’s getting his hair dyed.” She tells the stylist who’s name is Ellie, at least that’s what her name tag says.

“Oh fun, and what about you Ms. Romanov?” She asked and started combing through Natasha’s straight collarbone length hair, even though it was already perfectly parted and brushed.

She hesitated and looked at herself for a second, “I’m not sure.. Peter, what do you think?” Ellie looked slightly surprised but covered it well while Peter’s head shot up with his eyes wide.

“Um..” he stood up unsure and walked over, looking over her head and reaching up before stopping and looking at the stylist, “Do I, uh, have to use any styles from the magazine?” She shook her head and Peter turned back to Natasha, “Are you okay with me touching your shoulders and neck and stuff?” He asked timidly and she looked up slightly in shock, people normally didn’t ask, she just nodded simply and he nodded back without thinking about what he was doing.

“Um, okay.” He looked at her and studied it for a second, “Maybe go a darker red?” He looked down to see Natasha’s reaction and she tilted her head and nodded once.

“Sure.” She agreed and Peter huffed a little bit then thought for a second about the length and style.

“Maybe cut it in the back to about right here,” he set his hand right above the middle of her neck and the stylist nodded, “then line it up for it to stop about an inch below her ear.” He moved his hands to accommodate what he was describing, “Maybe a shorter piece on the left side to act as a bang but it doesn’t cover her forehead, maybe just shadow it a little bit.” He paused and rested his hands lightly on her shoulders as he thought about the style, “soft curls at the ends that give it more volume and bounce.” He played with an end of her hair absentmindedly as he thought about any changes, “actually, change the length to about 2 or 3 inches below her ear.”

“I’m sure that’ll look nice.” The stylist commented and Peter immediately stepped back and let Ellie take his place. Natasha gave him a small genuine smile and he smiled back in the same way before looking back down at the magazine as Ellie started cutting off Natasha’s hair half an inch by half an inch.

  
The hair appointment for the spy went faster than most as Ellie cut, dyed, washed, trimmed and curled. Peter stood up and walked up to the mirror to look at Natasha’s new hair as she did the same, “It looks good.” She commented and Peter smiled at the genuineness of her voice. She looked up at him and he took a step back to give her space, “Now it’s your turn.” She grinned and yeah, Peter had forgotten he was getting his hair done too.

She stood up and wrapped the apron around Peter as he sat and anxiety flooded him a little, she seemed to notice and chuckled a little bit as she fluffed his hair up and played with it, “Calm down, I’m not the one doing it.” She joked and he heard Ellie chuckle from across the room as she grabbed another comb and pair of scissors.

“Since you designed mine, I get to design yours.” Peter shrugged and she smirked as she played with his hair a bit more. Ellie walked over and set down her supplies, “Okay, so for shaggy here, I do like the length but its kind of everywhere.” Peter laughed a little, “So let’s trim it just a bit and do more of a Prince Charming look with a comb back, and we’ve decided to dye it a dark purple.”

Ellie smiled as she looked at Peter through the mirror, “Sounds wonderful, you like this idea?” He nodded with a small smile of his own and Natasha fluffed his hair one more time then went to sit in Peter’s spot and pick up the magazine he was flipping through.

Peter loves hair appointments, he doesn’t get his hair done that often but he loves them because it’s so relaxing and it gives him a reason to talk to someone about random things that don’t matter.

Ellie started the conversation, as every stylist does, as she started trimming his hair only about a half inch at most.

“How’s the end of the school year going?” She asked and he shrugged.

“Mediocre at best, the teachers are still giving us work even though finals are over and my English teacher kind of hates me.” She chuckled and started combing his hair, gently tugging at small tangles and sweeping away bits of hair that were still on his head.

“Why does she hate you?” Peter texted Ned as they worked and talked, setting his phone in the chair when they went to the wash station to rinse out the dye.

Peter refused to look at his hair until it was done, so he kept his head down and eyes occupied and when he had to look up he made sure to close his eyes.

He liked, scratch that, he _loved_ the final product, it had enough volume that he didn’t look like a businessman and it wasn’t too over the top with the color. Natasha smiled proudly as he admired it closely and fussed with the sides a little bit.

“Do you like it?” Ellie asked as she washed the comb and scissors and put away the dye.

“It looks amazing!” His voice went up in pitch and a blush dusted his face a little bit, the stylist looked over and smiled at him.

“I’m glad.” She stated and peeled off her latex gloves that were stained purple and tossed them in the trash bin easily.

Natasha and Peter walked out together, Peter with a bit of bounce to his step and an award-winning smile, they headed back to the compound so they could get Tony’s reaction before Peter went home to May who didn’t end up killing the genius and instead admired her nephew’s new hair.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was just a bunch of little fluffy scenes all put into one, I think Loki will come next chapter and Natasha and Oeter are bonding a bit more so yeah.
> 
> Criticism and opinions are always welcome.
> 
> My official Tumblr and Instagram: spiritxwolf
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter goes to get ice cream with Clint and then meets Loki at 2 A.M.

"A little warning would've been nice!" Tony exclaimed as he stormed into the room where the other Avengers had already assembled and pushed his way to the front.

Thor and his brother stood apart from the group, Thor with his arms crossed and Loki standing next to him with an emotionless face set.

"Calm down, Stark." The god stated merely as Tony glared with a clenched jaw.

"You don't have the right to tell me to calm down." He seethed, and Steve set a hand on his shoulder to pull him back so he wouldn't end up sucker punching Thor.

Loki stood silently, keeping his head high but refusing to meet any of the hero's eyes. Thor, on the other hand, met everyone's stares with a challenge set in his.

"He's not going to do anything." Tony scoffed and took a step forward again, Steve doing nothing to stop him. He poked the god's chest aggressively before looking over and making eye contact with the trickster.

"I know that. I would never let him." He turned back to Thor and cursed internally at their height difference, "but I have a kid downstairs that thinks everything in the world is good and I can't let _him_ go near," he pointed at Loki to punctuate, " _him_."

Thor lifted his chin slightly, eyes hardening and softening at the same time, and nodded once, "Then he won't." Tony opened his mouth to say something else, then relaxed his jaw and sighed.

"Make sure it doesn't." He took a step back then turned and left at a rapid pace, grabbing Clint on the way out and dragging him down the hall back to the elevator.

"Hey! Watch it!" Clint tugged lightly at Tony's grip but he didn't want to go back to that room, and the genius knew that, if he did then he would've already had Tony on the ground and be back in there.

Clint did end up yanking himself free as the elevator door opened and he looked over traces of thankfulness on his features, "Floor 53, JARVIS." Tony commanded and the elevator doors closed and they made their way down.

"Is Peter actually here?" Clint broke the tense silence, and Tony nodded, "I thought he had school?"

"His aunt's letting him skip the last week." He explained briefly and went straight back to staring ahead. Clint looked away. He didn't like protective Tony.

When they stepped into the lab, Peter was leaning against a table with his phone in one hand and a Rice Krispie in the other, he looked up and took a small bite as Tony stopped and gave him a questioning look.

"Where did you get that?" Peter shrugged and gave a small smirk.

"My secret food stash." Clint laughed loudly, and Tony turned around and threw a pencil at his head before turning back to Peter.

"This is my lab. You know that right?" Peter shrugged again and took another bite.

Tony shook his head and made his way back over to his station as Clint looked around for the teen's food, "Why aren't you working?" Peter kept his eyes on his phone as he typed something.

"You told me not to move." He stated, and Tony just sighed and got to work, Peter setting his phone down and moving around the table and projected something with too many numbers.

"Jesus, kid, where did you put it?" Clint walked around the corner with confusion written over his face as he looked around.

"You can't find the food stash of a 17-year-old?" Clint glared, and Peter snickered quietly as he tapped away on a keyboard, "JARVIS where is Parker's food kept?" The AI seemed to pause, and Peter looked up at the ceiling.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but Mr. Parker has told me not to give access to that information to anyone unless he approves." Tony looked up at Peter with a gaping mouth as the teen smirked and finished his treat.

"Override that command." The brunette narrowed his eyes at Peter's confident expression.

"I'm sorry, Sir. Mr. Parker has made me promise." Both Clint and Peter started laughing at Tony's betrayed face.

"Unbelievable. My AI has chosen a high school student over his creator." The billionaire muttered as he watched the pair dissolve into giggles all over again. He sighed and looked over at the teen, then up, eyebrows furrowing slightly as he thought about who was above them, "Barton."

Clint looked up, still grinning like a madman, but slowly sobered as he took in Tony's worried gaze, "Yeah?" he asked, and Tony made a small notion with his head towards Peter.

"Get the wall-crawler out of here before he hacks my only friend completely." He let his voice carry the sarcastic ring that everyone was so familiar with, but Clint saw underneath it and nodded, putting a smile back on his face as he turned to Peter who was trying to stifle his laughter.

"Come on, Spiderling. We're going to get ice cream since grandpa over here can't have any fun." He joked and tossed a look over his shoulder, but Tony was already looking back down to the paper's sprawled across the table, surrounding himself with work to distract from the growing anxiety.

Peter and Clint made their way to the elevator, the teen continually glancing back at the doors, he felt worried for his mentor as the cart made its way to the lobby. The feeling only grew as the archer pulled out into the road in a car that had high frequencies of Natasha vibes.

And yeah, of course, Peter knew that Loki had shown up, he knew as soon as JARVIS had announced that 'Thor and 'that dick' have arrived on floor 93.' followed by Tony sprinting out of the lab.

"So, where do you wanna go?" Clint asked, turning down the radio that was playing some overrated pop song.

"Um, I-I don't know? What are my options?" Clint huffed a laugh and glanced over as they stopped at a red light.

"Well there's Morganstern's, Cones, Davey's, uhh-" his eyes flicked up as he thought, "The Original Chinatown, Ice and Vice, Ample Hills.. yeah that's all I can think of." Peter sorted through his options as the light turned green and horns started blaring around him, making his sensitive ears ring.

"Let's go to Davey's." He decided, and Clint nodded, taking a turn that was probably illegal, but it was New York, so no one cared.

The ice cream shop was cozy, and it gave Peter a warm feeling, sighing softly as he breathed in the icy smell. They walked up to the counter where a man who looked way too excited to be working in an ice cream store met them.

"Hi, welcome to Davey's! How may I help you today?" The cashier's smile was so bright; Peter was worried about his vision.

Peter got a plain vanilla cone, and Clint got a birthday cake cone with a chocolate chip cookie on the side. Peter stifled his laughter as they made their way over to the window seat and sat down, Clint shot him a glare over the bright blue ice cream and Peter giggled.

"You're just jealous cause I'm more creative than you." He snapped playfully, and Peter rolled his eyes and licked at his cone, "I have a niece and two nephews, I'm entitled." He grumbled, and Peter looked up with fake innocence on his face, but mischief still twinkled in his eyes.

"Oh, so that's where you get your personality from?" He asked, a sarcastic ring at the end and Clint just made an overdramatic offended expression and threw a straw from the dispenser that was sitting next to him. Peter ducked and laughed, watching Clint as he muttered under his breath.

"Tell me about them." Peter nodded his head once as Clint looked up and squinted his eyes slightly in confusion, "Your niece and nephews, tell me about them." He explained and at his curious expression, Clint's face lit up.

"Well, the oldest is 12, and his name is Cooper, he's really good at math but hates science, he says he's indifferent to English though. He really likes music, sticks more to alternative and rock than anything else. He's passionate about certain things but doesn't speak up, which we're working on, and his favorite Avenger is Captain America." Clint ended with a scowl, and Peter chuckled.

"And your niece?" He asked, and Clint smiled softly, taking a bite of ice cream which made Peter cringe for the archer's teeth.

"Her name is Lila, a little genius, that one. She's eight and loves Katy Perry, and most of her closet contains bright pink fairy dresses, she wants a puppy. A golden retriever to be exact," He paused to take a bite of his cookie then pass a small piece to Peter, "and her favorite Avenger is Spiderman."

Clint smirked as Peter choked on the piece of cookie and stuttered helplessly as he gaped in shock, "B-but, I'm not-I mean I'm not really an Avenger." Clint just shrugged.

"She doesn't care." the blonde smirked again as Peter stared at the table, thinking about how an eight-year-old girl could look up to him.

"And then there's Nathaniel, he's only two, so I can't tell you much except he likes Natasha and is very vocal at 3 AM." he played with his napkin, twisting it around his finger as he thought about the kids.

The two sat in silence after that, bickering a couple of times as they finished off their waffle cones.

Driving back to the tower took a while since it was later in the day and traffic was even worse, so Peter decided to ask the question that had been nipping at the back of his head for the past half hour, "Hey, Mr. Barton."

"Yeah? And don't call me Mr. Barton." He answered, glancing up at the light before turning to Peter.

"Um, do you know, uh why-" Peter coughed awkwardly then turned back to the archer, "Why was Mr. Stark, um, scared? Earlier?" His voice rose at the end of the sentence and Clint went slightly rigid, the light turning green as he opened his mouth to answer.

"Tony's been through a lot, kid. The battle of New York kind of scarred him and that was Loki's fault." His voice cracked on the god's name, but he carried on like it didn't happen.

"But it wasn't his fault." Peter tilted his head in confusion, strongly resembling a puppy.

"We didn't know that at the time," Clint answered simply.

"But you do now, so why is it still a thing?" Peter questioned, and Clint paused and debated on telling Peter what he really thought before he finally thought, 'fuck it.'

"Don't tell Tony I told you this, but he cares about you. A lot. Like _a lot, a lot_. And the god that is currently staying in the lowest level of the tower right now has tons of power and believes he's better than everyone else, that scared Tony because you're naive--don't say you're not--and he's afraid that Loki could influence you in ways that Spiderman shouldn't be influenced." Clint took a deep breath as Peter stared at him, "Loki's done things, Peter. Maybe because he only wanted to survive while under Thanos' control, but he still killed a lot of people and has given plenty of people nightmares that keep them up at night."

Peter turned his torso to face the windshield and crossed his arms, furrowing his eyebrows and staring at his lap, "Are you going to give him a second chance." He asked after a minute or two and Clint paused once again.

"I-" He stopped and blinked once, "I don't know, kid."

\-----------------

"Do you wanna stay here for the night? It's already 8:30." Tony asked, and Peter stopped midway through writing down an idea for his list of things to do over the summer.

He didn't look up, thinking about what Clint had said in the car, "Um, I mean I would have to call May and ask..." he trailed off and heard Tony chuckle.

"Okay, kid. Do that. I'll clean up the mess you've made of the lab." Peter stuttered for a minute before obediently picked up his phone and walked out of the doors to call his aunt.

She answered after two rings, and the sound of a bustling hospital filled his ears, " _Hey, Pete. I have to work the night shift. It's been so busy I haven't gotten the chance to tell you, I'm sorry._ " She spoke in a rush, stress seeping through her words.

"It's okay. I'm not at home anyway. That's kind of why I called, do you mind if I, uh, spend the night at the tower?" Silence came over the line as she thought, the tapping of nails on a keyboard coming through instead.

" _I thought we agreed on this extra week not being about your internship?_ " She asked, and the teen started walking in small circles.

"It's not! I promise it's not, I just- it's already late, and I didn't bring my normal transportation device and I don't want to bother Mr. Stark or Happy with driving me back to Queens and I obviously can't walk cause I don't have my mask with me and that's a bit dangerous, and Mr. Stark invited me, so." he shrugged as if he was actually talking to her and bit his lip nervously.

May sighed softly, and he heard the rustle of her scrubs as she positioned the phone between her ear and shoulder, " _Okay, Peter. Go ahead and stay there for the night, but come home this week at least once, will you?_ " The smile in her voice made Peter do the same thing, and he nodded subconsciously.

"I will, thank you so much. I love you." His voice softened, and she sighed once again.

" _I love you, too. Now go and do whatever you and Stark do._ " He nodded, and the line cut off.

He walked back into the lab and Tony looked up from where he was scanning The Summer List with a raised brow, "So?" Peter set his phone back down on the table where it was initially.

"She said okay," he answered and Tony grinned.

"Wanna go watch old movies until 2 AM?" He offered, and Peter felt slightly shocked at the idea but nodded nonetheless, and Tony clapped once and walked out of the lab, the teen immediately following.

They ended up watching Disney movies, starting with the originals like Cinderella and Snow White and made their way through history. Tony fell asleep midway through Bambi. The thought of getting a marker and drawing on the billionaire's face was tempting, but another idea that had been tugging at Peter's thoughts since his ice cream trip with Clint was even more tempting.

The teen hesitantly made his way to the stairs, afraid of using the elevator in case it made too much noise and woke up the light sleepers that were the Avengers. He paused midway between floor 43 and 42, slightly out of breath and looked up at the ceiling.

"JARVIS?" He whispered and winced at the sound of his isolated voice.

"Yes, Mr. Parker?" The AI answered immediately, and Peter felt a rush of relief that he knew to use a softer voice.

"Look over Mr. Stark? Please?" He asked, and after the two-second pause that made Peter unreasonably nervous, JARVIS replied.

"I always do, Mr. Parker."

Peter sighed and continued on his way down, stopping again after a few steps, "And also... Please don't tell him where I'm going." He used his pleading voice that worked on May.

"If you are certain that you are not putting yourself in harm's way, I will not." Peter nodded and continued, quietly cursing Tony for needing so many floors.

The lower levels were foreign to Peter, consisting of dimmer lights and heavier machinery, rooms that had scientists with crisp white lab coats rushing around, not having the time to notice his passing.

He walked carefully down two more floors, acutely aware of the sound of other people below and above him. The lowest level was mostly barren, with a few doors here and there until he reached the end where a single metal door was positioned in a corner with about four cameras angled at it and a giant one-way mirror next to it where you could see the dark-haired god Peter remembered from the news.

Peter briefly questioned his sanity as he knocked on the cold door quietly, noticing how the trickster's head had shot up the millisecond he had heard the noise. Peter also noticed how there was no tingle at the base of his skull.

He gently turned the ice cold handle and cracked the door open, hesitating again to ask himself what the _hell_ he was doing.

Before he could back out of his decision (he did not walk down 69 flights of stairs just to walk back up) he stepped into the room and closed the door. He turned and clasped his hands behind his back awkwardly as he looked up to meet Loki's steely, questioning, green eyes.

The silence was just slightly deafening as they observed one another, Peter saw how it looked like the god wanted to stand but didn't and how he occasionally glanced at the mirror.

"Care to explain why a child is standing in my cell?" He finally broke, and Peter cocked his head, releasing the firm grip that his right hand had on his left and letting his arms fall to his sides.

"You think it's a cell?" Loki raised a perfectly arched eyebrow and crossed his arms, completely contrasting Peter's stance.

"You didn't answer my question." The trickster leaned back and lifted his chin slightly, a curious twinge taking over the wary one in his eye.

"You didn't answer mine either." Peter shrugged and wanted to smack himself, but found himself being less nervous around the god (villain? Ex-villain? Anti-hero?) then he had been around his heroes.

"Answer mine first then maybe I'll answer yours." Peter wanted to scoff, Loki was definitely a younger brother.

"Fine. I got curious." The god narrowed his eyes, confusion making him tilt his head somewhat subconsciously and making the serpent green that much sharper. Peter wanted to slink out the door under his gaze. His spidey sense didn't go off.

"Curious? About me?" The tone was disbelieving, but Peter ignored it.

"You still haven't answered my question." He shot back instead of answering and immediately regretted it as Loki stood up and took a step forward. His spidey sense didn't go off.

"Why should I? You are a mere mortal, a _child_. Why does it matter to you?" He took another step forward, and Peter took a step closer to the wall, quickly mapping out the room and any escape routes out of instinct.

"Because I want to know?" He squeaked out, and he saw the flash of a smirk and the god moved over to lean against the edge of the table.

"Look around you, it has space, but it is not really a room. I have a table, a chair and possibly the smallest bed on Midgard. The walls seem like they were built to drive you to insanity and to my knowledge, I am currently underground. There are also cameras hidden in every crevice that Stark's servant is watching us through right now." Peter did look around, and Loki was right, the walls were the most boring gray ever, the bed looked like it had come from a hospital and the little black table in the middle was the only other piece of furniture in the spacious room. Loki was in a cell. "And for a rich man, his food is terrible." he continued in a grumble and Peter huffed a laugh.

Loki looked up at the sound, and the teen sobered immediately and covered up the amusement easily, "Couldn't you use your magic or whatever to, like, get new stuff?" He made a small hand motion for the lack of words and then put them back to his sides awkwardly.

"I could, but Stark forbade it. Which why would I need it when he has just been so hospitable." Loki rolled his eyes and turned his head to emphasize how exasperated he was, and Peter had to choke back a laugh, smirking instead at the sarcasm, "What is your name?" Loki asked, and Peter hadn't even noticed the god looking at him again.

"Uh, I-" He paused and thought how stupid it was to tell the god of mischief his name, but he took a small breath in and continued, "Peter."

The god's lips quirked up slightly into a half smile, and Peter felt a little thrown off by it. His spidey sense didn't go off.

"Okay then, Peter. It is quite late, is it not? You should probably go off to bed, shouldn't you?" Loki stood straight again and sat back down on his chair, going back to doing whatever he was doing before Peter had walked in. The teen held stock still for a few seconds before nodding to himself quickly and walking out the door.

He walked back down the hallway briskly, up the stairs and past the labs and doors, he even forgot to use the stairs again because he was so deep in his thoughts. He went back through the conversation multiple times. Then, he realized that his spidey sense never went off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay on this chapter, I've been stressed cause of school and I had a small case of writer's block. 
> 
> Criticism and opinons are always welcome.
> 
> Official Tumblr and Instagram: spiritxwolf
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter gets injured + Dad!Tony

Peter loved swinging.

The adrenaline rush of flying through midair with nothing to catch you except something you control was addicting. The view of New York from the top of the tallest skyscrapers in the city was another pro. He had never been afraid of heights anyway.

And with the new AI that Tony had helped him build made his job 10x easier. She told him where the crime scene was happening from listening in at the police station, she also alerted him of calls and texts when he was on patrol, so he didn't need to carry his phone around anymore and worry about breaking it, she helped him with studying for upcoming tests and did another million things that Peter loved. He had named her Karen.

"Peter, it seems as though there has been a robbery at the bank on 97-77 Queens Boulevard." Peter was already on his feet, standing at the edge of the building that he had been eating his sandwich on 5 seconds earlier. He jumped off and let himself free fall for a moment before catching himself on the next building over, traveling way faster than the cops ever could.

"Armed?" He asked simply and landed on the side of the building next to the bank, scaling the wall with ease.

"It appears as though the criminals are each carrying a SIG Sauer P226 handgun; I would advise being careful going in." Peter didn't say anything as he dove off yet another building and landed on the roof right next to the bank, quickly taking in the scene and targeting the two men dressed in the cliche black robber outfit that Peter had seen a million times before.

Duffel bags were basically flowing out of the back door and into a large black van, this was like watching an action movie in real life. He sighed and jumped off the roof, landing on the sidewalk in the perfect superhero landing pose and stood up, briefly dusting his hands off as he crept around the side of the van and leaned against it as the man hurled bags into the back.

"You know, black doesn't really suit you." He casually stated, and the guy whirled around, glaring at the spider through the empty eyesockets of his ski mask. He growled and moved to pull out his gun from his waistband, but Peter had already knocked him out with a well-aimed punch.

The teen turned to go do the same with the other guy, but when he lifted his head, he saw that the criminal was already pointing the gun with one hand while carrying the last duffel in his other. Peter felt his entire body tense up and forced himself to relax. Spiderman didn't get nervous in these situations.

"Hey, man." He greeted casually and took a step forward which only prompted a threatening wave of the gun. Peter locked his eyes on to where the guy's index finger was resting firmly on the trigger.

"Take a step closer, and you get a bullet for dinner, got it, freak?" He threatened, and Peter felt air rush out of his lungs. Maybe this guy wasn't as much as an amateur as he initially thought.

"No can do, buddy. I already had dinner." His voice wavered, and he cursed himself, the man's lips pulled up into an intimidating smile underneath the mask.

Peter ran all options through his head, quickly noticing that the gun was pointed downward, towards his abdomen, this guy wasn't aiming to kill.

Now he was panicking just slightly, all the other times he had stopped armed robberies, he wasn't on the ground, and if he was, he had surprised the robbers, and they didn't have the chance to pull out their weapon. This time, Peter had been stupid. This time, Peter was too busy messing with the first guy to even think about the possibility of his buddy coming out and seeing him. Rookie mistake.

He took another minimalistic step forward, and the guy glared, just then police sirens wailed in the distance, and the flashing blue and red lights lit up Peter's peripheral vision.

The man's head shot to the side and Peter started running towards him, but then the guy turned back and pulled the trigger aimlessly, bolting to the open van.

Peter's spidey sense told him to move, screamed at him to move, but it was too late. The bullet pierced his side, and he yelled out in pain, "You son of a _bitch!_ " He looked up and shot out a web, hitting the man's hand and sticking it to the door, giving him another chance as the criminal fell to the ground. He shot again and managed to trap his leg against the ground; The police pulled into the bank parking lot as Peter's knees buckled and black crept around the edges of his vision.

He used the last of his strength to pull himself up to the roof of the building next door, relying on his webs more than he ever has before. Karen's voice spoke in his ear, but between the grinding of his teeth and the excruciating pain overcoming his brain, he could barely hear her.

"Peter you have experienced a bullet wound to the left side of your torso, it did not hit any internal organs, but if you don't get to a medical facility soon, you have a chance of bleeding out. Would you like me to contact Mr. Stark?"

Peter decided to ignore her for the time being; instead, he pressed his hand to his side in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding. Another shock of white-hot pain shot up his torso and he cried out, retracting his hand immediately.

_I'm bleeding out. I need to put pressure on the wound._

He slowly brought his hand back to the burning pain at his side and gulped back a whimper at the feeling that erupted once again. He felt the blood seep through to his hand and blinked multiple times to keep the black that had been slowly taking over his eyes away.

"Contacting Mr. Stark.." He caught the robotic words and fell forward, catching himself with his right hand.

"No! Karen don't-!" He tried to end the call, but the billionaire had already picked up.

" _Kid?_ " Tony sounded worried, and Peter pressed his lips together to stifle a groan as another burning pain set in. Tony seemed to hear it anyway, " _Hey, what happened? Karen only told me you had been hurt."_

He opened his mouth, his throat felt dry, "Shot." He gasped out, finding it extremely hard to get words out of his mouth.

"Jesus Christ, Pete." He heard the sound of metal clinking as Tony suited up, he wanted to object, but he couldn't find it in him "Stay right there, Karen told me where you are. Don't die." The call ended, and Peter collapsed, not being able to hold himself up anymore.

His sensitive ears hurt from the gunshot, which was giving him a headache to deal with on top of a goddamn bullet wound. He didn't even know if there was an exit wound or if the bullet was still jammed into his side.

The sound of Tony's suit made his foggy head clear up a bit, and he looked up at before promptly passing out.

\----------

_frea-_

_son of a-_

_kid-_

_contacti-_

_black doesn't su-_

_bitch!-_

_bullet for dinn-_

_don't die._

Peter woke up with a groan, everything was too bright, and it felt as if there was a layer of cotton clouding his mind. An ache at his side made him wince, and he tried to sit up, but a gentle hand stopped him. He looked over quickly, but relaxed as he saw the familiar red-head sitting down on the bed he was laying in.

"It's okay, Peter. Just me." She mumbled, and he exhaled softly and laid back down. A restraining bandage was wrapped around his torso, and he finally realized that his suit had been taken off. Feeling a tad self-conscious he pulled up the soft blanket that was laying on top of him, up to his collarbone.

Natasha chuckled and swept a small curl back from his temple, "You're just like Clint." Peter cocked his head, and a dull throb echoed at the back of his skull.

"Why does everybody keep saying that I remind them of someone?" He asked, and Natasha just smirked and didn't answer him. "Are those guys in jail?" He asked instead of pressing her, she nodded and stood up, and Peter's instincts wanted to reach out a pull her back down to sit next to him, but he got control of himself and kept his arms at his sides.

"You should've seen Tony when he brought you in." She half-smiled as she got him a glass of water and a banana from a mini fridge in the corner. When she handed him the glass, his throat suddenly felt parched, and he downed the entire thing in seconds. She sat back down as he sat up and peeled the fruit and took a large bite from it.

"I think you almost gave him a heart attack when you passed out, he didn't want to leave when Banner stitched you up, but once you were sleeping soundly, we forced him to go do something so he wouldn't go insane." She smiled softly at Peter's wide eyes as he listened to her describe what happened after he was brought in.

"That doesn't really sound like Mr. Stark?" He ended it like it was a question when it was just supposed to be a statement and blamed it on his still groggy head.

Natasha furrowed her eyebrows and adjusted the blanket on top of him before resting a hand on his knee, "What do you mean?" She asked, and he tilted his head slightly.

"He doesn't seem like the type to worry, 'specially about me." He shrugged then regretted it as it pulled on his bandages.

"Tony worries about everyone he cares about, that definitely means he worries about you." She poked his shoulder playfully, and he looked down at the half-eaten banana, he was still hungry, but he couldn't find it in himself to take another bite. Natasha scooted closer and fully rested her hand on his shoulder as he bit the inside of his cheek, keeping his head down.

"What's wrong, маленький паук?" She asked with a low voice, and he didn't really know how to answer that question.

"What does that mean?" He tried to change the subject, but Natasha caught on immediately and gave him a look. He huffed softly and started messing with one of the peeled ends of the banana, "I don't know, he's a lot more important than I'll ever be, a lot more relevant, I wouldn't think he would waste his time worrying about his 16-year-old, wannabe hero intern."

He made sure to keep his eyes down, not wanting to see Natasha's reaction when she realized he was right.

"We really need to work on your confidence." She replied, and he peeked up at her in surprise but quickly adjusted his eyes back down to his banana, "He cares about you, Peter. Clint told me how the thought of you and Loki being in the same tower made Tony anxious, so he made Clint take you for ice cream, and you wouldn't even be doubting how much he cares for you if you had seen the way he reacted to Loki showing up the other day." Peter reminded himself not to tense up at the god's name and rounded his shoulders instead.

"How'd he react?" Not being there cause he didn't want to disobey Tony by leaving the lab and not having access to the footage that JARVIS had made him curious.

"He said he didn't want you near him cause you thought everything in the world was good, made Thor promise to keep Loki under control." She responded briefly and then the billionaire came through the door causing both Peter and Natasha to turn and look at him as he stared down at his phone.

When he looked up a couple of seconds later, he startled and walked over briskly, "Peter! Hey, you okay? I told Bruce not to use those bandages cause their uncomfortable but he said those worked better, but if they're too bad I can convince him to change them out. By the way, you're incredibly stupid for what happened at the bank, Karen told me that you had asked if they were armed and when she said yes, you continued." Peter glanced between a stern Tony and a smirking Natasha.

"I'll try not to be stupid next time." He joked lightly, and Nat squeezed his shoulder once then stood up, brushing past Tony as a goodbye to him then walked out the door.

"You were trying to do the right thing, which I get, but next time, try not to get shot." He smiled, and Peter gave him an apologetic look which seemed to win him over enough for him to grab the empty glass and the half-eaten banana from his hands.

Peter opened his mouth to say thank you but instead, it came out completely different, "How's Loki doing?" He heard the words come out of his mouth one by one and couldn't stop it; he didn't expect the clatter of the glass dropping into the sink as Tony lost his grip out of surprise.

He turned around, and Peter would've probably run out of the room if the slightest movement didn't make his side ache, "How do you know about that?" Tony asked, and Peter shrunk back just slightly but enough for Tony to notice and relax his stance.

"I'm not stupid," Peter mumbled and crossed his arms, pulling the blanket back up to cover all the skin visible below his neck.

"Yeah, I know that. There's a reason you're here. But why do wanna know?" Tony changed his words and Peter so desperately wanted to point it out so she could show the footage to Natasha later and prove his point.

"Because he's staying at the tower and deserves some good treatment." Peter felt like he was tightrope walking across the grand canyon with where this conversation was going. The feeling only grew as Tony went into a defensive position by crossing his arms as well.

"I don't see why you could think that." He lifted his chin, trying to intimidate Peter to make him change the subject.

"It wasn't his fault, Mr. Stark." He looked back down and mumbled his response. He really should just back out now before he gets his internship taken away.

"We don't know the real story, Pete. We're talking about the god of mischief and lies here; no one trusts a word he says." Tony's voice grew harder with every word.

"I think that's unfair." Peter shot back, and now this conversation was turning into a disagreement, and if Peter didn't choose his words carefully, it was going to turn into an argument.

"Good for you, no one else does." Tony snapped, and Peter looked up in shock. That wasn't a tone of voice that the genius used very often, he looked guilty when he saw Peter's face and made a move to apologize but Peter just flopped on to his side and pulled the blanket up to his ear, ignoring the major ache on his left side from the force of landing on his right, "Kid-" Peter felt like a pouting 3-year-old, but he was an angsty teen, he was so allowed to pout at disagreements with his boss.

"It's fine, Mr. Stark. I overstepped, I know, and I'm sorry. I just wanna sleep now." He kept his voice low and closed his eyes will the pressure behind the lids to go away. He was such a stereotypical angsty teen.

He heard Tony's expensive shoes walk across the floor and then felt a hand on his shoulder blade, "I'm sorry, kid. Tell JARVIS if you have any pain and I'll bring your meds down." The hand left his back, and the expensive shoes walked away, followed by the door shutting softly.

He was _such_ an angsty teen.

\-----------

By the end of the day, the spot had healed enough that it just looked like a puncture wound, enough to say that he fell in an old warehouse and hit a nail.

Happy drove him home, and for once, Peter stayed silent, prompting Happy to glance over everytime they stopped at a light or got stuck in a line. Peter never looked back, he stayed on his phone, sending short texts back to Ned as his friend described what they had done at school for the last four days.

When they pulled up to his home where he could see the kitchen light illuminating the window, he made a move to open the door and Happy stopped him, "I'm going to assume you were so quiet cause your nervous about lying to your aunt, but if that's not the reason then I hope it's not a big deal and you can get over it." Peter gave a tight smile and climbed out of the car, walking to the front door and watching as the car drove off before walking around the side and slinging himself up to his window.

He had enough energy to take off the shirt that he borrowed from the tower and check the bandage that was just on his left side now, then he changed into his pajama bottoms and climbed into bed. Falling asleep after thirty minutes of trying to find a comfortable position.

His nightmare(s) consisted of gunshots and dead family members, a tornado that he couldn't run from and the echoing thunder that sounded like 'He cares about you, Peter.'

He only got 4 hours before he had to wake up and eat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in two days, I deserve an award. No, but honestly, I have made a timeline for this story so chapters should be coming out a lot more often (hopefully). 
> 
> Criticism and opinions are always welcome. 
> 
> Official Tumblr and Instagram: spiritxwolf
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter talks to Bucky and Loki

"Peter, can you help me out with Barnes' arm?" Tony called from across the strangely quiet lab; there was no music playing, only the tapping of computer keys and the occasional scratching of graphite on paper.

The teen looked up from where he had his lips pressed together and a pencil resting behind his ear. Bucky had a white tank top on, exposing the old scars where Hydra had roughly connected his old metal arm. Tony had his head bent over the new one, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

Peter set down his notes and walked around the table towards where the super-soldier was seated, "Uh, yeah, sure. What do you need me to do?" He wiped his hands briefly on his worn out jeans and stood next to his mentor patiently as he grabbed tweezers from the small table next to him.

"Dumbass over here decided to go up against his best friend and got the plates screwed up, which messed up the wiring." Bucky rolled his eyes at the insult.

"Whatever, Stark. Can you just fix it?" Tony stuck his tongue out childishly then turned to Peter.

"I need you to hold part of the arm together while I take one of the plates off to readjust it, don't let it slip cause then the entire thing will fall apart." Tony picked up some tool that Peter had never seen him use before as the teen hesitantly positioned his hands near the empty gap in the soldier's arm, looking carefully at the crisscrossing wires, the occasional spark lighting up near the metal each time Tony accidentally made contact with the wrong part.

After 10 minutes of stiffly holding the metal arm and glancing away every few seconds to avoid the awkwardness, the genius finally set the plate back into place and leaned back, dusting his hands off dramatically and beaming at the both of them as Peter released his grip.

The soldier flexed his hand and rotated his shoulder, and a small click sounded in the wrist. Tony threw his head back and groaned loudly, "I'm gonna kill Rogers!" He announced in annoyance and Peter chuckled as Bucky raised an eyebrow.

The billionaire walked out of the lab muttering something lowly about reversing the effects of that goddamn serum and dismissed Peter back to his work with a wave of his hand.

The teen scurried away back to his computer and notes, taking the pencil away from his ear and writing a quick scribble about the arm in the margin of his notebook paper.

He turned away, studying the blueprints of an old Iron Man suit and fixing small mistakes, something Tony assigned when Peter got stressed with his own projects.

"So, how'd Tony find you?" The sudden voice of Bucky broke through his intense state, and he looked up at the soldier, he glanced back at his work then back to Bucky and shrugged.

"I-I mean, I guess Spiderman was on the news, and he saw it, somehow found out my identity, came to my house and offered me a spot on the Avengers team as long as I trained for it, in the meantime, he said I could work in his lab as an intern." He rambled a bit and looked away as soon as he finished explaining, clicking absentmindedly to zoom in on the chest area of the Mark 34.

"Wow, quite a story," Bucky commented and looked away again, watching his arm as he twisted it around.

"Nothing compared to yours.." Peter muttered under his breath and tapped a few more keys, zooming in on the shoulder and removing the outer layer, studying the internal layer of the suit with squinted eyes.

Of course, Peter forgot that Bucky also had better hearing than most so when he felt a small tingle behind his ear, warning him that eyes were burning into his head, he looked up immediately and met the steely eyes of Bucky Barnes.

"I-I didn't mean that-that in a disrespectful way, what happened to you was terrible, I just mean that I'm a teenager vigilante and you're an ex-brainwashed assassin, obviously our stories are kind of different." He stuttered through his kind of apology under the steady gaze of Bucky before tearing his eyes away and hiding behind the computer, tapping quickly to cover up the tense silence.

"Wanna know what it was like?" Peter looked up, startled, but Bucky had his eyes cast downwards to the arm.

"I'm not gonna make you talk about it.." Peter said slowly, and the soldier glimpsed up.

"You're not. I'm offering."

Peter took a step away from the table and walked back over to the ex-assassin, he sat on the table, a safe distance from the soldier.

"Hydra wanted to accomplish something, they never had an end goal really, I guess you could say they wanted to rule the world, but that doesn't really sound right. I wasn't the only 'Winter Solider,' they had multiple, I don't remember them, but we were all treated the same, I think I was the only one with a prosthetic though. We always worked solo, us in a group would be too dangerous." Peter leaned forward, hands resting on the cold metal as they soldier took a breath.

"I don't remember much, not really. Small glimpses of cities and dark labs and containment facilities, I remember my fight with Steve, both of them. We all had certain words that, if said in the right order, would put us into soldier mode. I don't remember how many, I usually lost control by 7. I don't think you could call The Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes. We kind of were two different people, well actually, I don't think you could classify him as a person at all." Bucky ran his flesh hand over his face, "It took them 20 years to actually break me though, then for the next 50 I was in and out of cyro and doing assassinations. Until they sent me after Nick Fury where Steve finally found out what happened."

"Do the words still work?" Peter asked, looking up at the soldier in slight fear, worrying about asking the wrong question.

"No, the Wakandan princess made my brain all squeaky-clean again." Peter opened his mouth to ask another question, but Tony walked back in, glancing between the two when he noticed that Peter wasn't at his workplace.

"First Clint, then Natasha and now Barnes? Why can't you just stay down here with me?" Bucky smirked and set a hand on his hip, covering up the previously resurfaced emotions with ease.

"Jealous, Stark?" Bucky teased lightly, and the genius scoffed, Peter jumping off the table and sneaking back to his work as they bantered good-naturedly.

"J, can you tell grandpa to come get his friend, and to not break the arm again?" Tony called up to the ceiling as he slid the plate back into place, Bucky doing the usual testing exercise and nothing happened, so he stood up, making quick eye contact with Peter before turning to Tony and thanking him curtly, then he walked out of the lab where he probably met the captain in the hall.

"So," Tony said shortly, and Peter looked up hesitantly, finding the billionaire leaning against his table with crossed arms, "What'd you and grumpy cat talk about while I was gone?" The tension from their previous disagreement was still hanging heavy in the air, making Peter's subconscious lift his hand to the small mark in his side.

"Not much, just about the arm." Technically, it wasn't a lie, the arm had played a pretty big part in his time as the Winter Soldier.

Peter flitted his eyes back to the computer, feeling trapped under Tony's stern gaze as he studied the teen, "I got the psychopath downstairs a new bed." He finally broke the suffocating silence, but it didn't change the level of tension that had settled in the large lab.

'Um, I- That's good, I guess." Peter stumbled out, looking down at the mouse resting under his right hand, watching his middle finger run over the scroll wheel absentmindedly. He decided to ignore the psychopath comment.

"He looked surprised." The genius stated simply, and Peter felt the unbreathable, thick air, thicken even more.

Peter finally looked up as anxiety clouded his already stressed brain, "Why are you doing this? It's not like it's unknown that we disagree on how Loki should be viewed. I don't think he's a bad guy, but you were hurt by him, and I get that, but he wasn't the only one behind the control panel." Tony looked down, uncrossing his arms to fiddle with a scrap of one of Peter's failed experiments.

"If you get to question my actions, then I get to question yours. Why are you so hellbent on this idea of Loki being a villain-turned-hero? This entire conversation is why I didn't want you going near him, he's manipulative, he's a liar, he's a psycho and a narcissist at the same time, if he were human, then he would've been thrown in a psych ward a long time ago. _You_ are an optimist, the brightest person in this entire building, do you know how _easy_ it would be to corrupt you? You think everything and everyone in this world has a chance, but that's not the case. Look at me, and Bruce, and Natasha, and Bucky, and almost every single Avenger in this tower! We were all basically forced into this, and we all have problems because of it. Now that's the Avengers, think about Loki! The difference is, _he doesn't care_. He'll do anything if it means he wins in the end, the fact that he's here right now is because he guilt-tripped his brother enough to the point that Thor somehow convinced me to allow it!"

Tony's jaw was clenched tightly, exasperation and frustration radiating from his eyes in waves. Peter leaned on his fists, feeling his lungs constrict underneath all the pressure, "I never called him a hero, and I don't think of him in that way. I know who he is, and I know what he's done. He's the actual _god_ of mischief, and I get that, but it wasn't -and isn't- his fault that whatever happened in his past made him that way. I also know that this team isn't all fame and saving the world, I'm not that stupid, it's obvious that all of you have gone through something life-changing, but so has he."

The tension slowly fizzled out as Tony took a deep breath and looked away, "Tony," the name sounded foreign on Peter's tongue, "I know what happened in the Battle of New York. It's no secret to anyone, you almost sacrificed yourself in the most terrifying way possible, and you need to blame someone for that, everyone feels that way with any bad situation. I blame the officers that were assigned to my uncle's case for not finding the guy who did it, Wanda blamed you for a long time for killing her parents, and you blame Loki for your near-death experience."

Tony chuckled half-heartedly, "Stop deducing me, kid, it's weird." Peter gave him a small smile that only tugged at one corner of his mouth, "I still don't agree with you, but fine, I'll move him to a more acceptable place in the building."

Peter grinned, "Okay. I'm sure Thor will appreciate it." He joked lightly, and Tony scoffed.

"He's a god, he doesn't appreciate anything." Peter chuckled, and Tony smirked with a defeated look in his eye, "I'm not doing it for him, I'm not doing it for anybody, but you are a smart kid, and you make a good point for someone with no experience."

"I have plenty experience!" Peter protested, and Tony rolled his eyes, letting a genuine smile slip.

\-----------

Getting away from the lab was twice as hard during the day than it was at 2 AM, once he made it to the bottom floors it became easier until he was back in the cold corridors with busy scientists filling rooms with unknown technology.

Then he was back in front of the heavily secured metal door, and the one-way-mirror, the god's bed was bigger as Tony had said, and Loki was laying on it, reading a book he had somehow gotten, probably by bribing or threatening one of the people assigned to watch over him.

Peter once again opened the door with a soft click, getting the same reaction from Loki as the last time. He sat up quickly, setting the book down and standing in 2 seconds, "Oh, it's just you." his shoulders deflated slightly, and he turned to face Peter with his hands crossed behind his back.

"Sound a little more excited, will you?" Peter threw back sarcastically, sitting down at the small table that Loki had been occupying when he had met him.

"Oh, what joy! The small earthling has returned and is now sitting in my chair!" Loki responded with the same tone as Peter, but worse, or better, depended on how you looked at it. The god sat back down at the end of the bed, still facing Peter, "What'd you come down here for this time?" He asked, and the teen shrugged and looked around.

"Me and Mr. Stark kind of got into a disagreement about you, the second one actually, felt wrong not to come talk to you after." Loki studied him through narrowed eyes, then relaxed once again.

"Can I ask what these disagreements were about?" Peter leaned back against the chair and glanced over, crossing his arms before uncrossing them again and putting his hands on his thighs.

"Your place here, what you deserve, things like that." He looked away again and towards the mirror that anyone could be watching him through. The thought made paranoia crawl up his spine.

Loki lifted his chin slightly, and Peter turned his attention back to the trickster, "And whose side were you on?"

The teen rolled his eyes and shifted back a little more, "Who do you think?" Loki smirked, and Tony's words briefly flashed through Peter's head.

_'I didn't want you going near him, he's manipulative, he's a liar,'_

Peter sighed and looked down, "Who are you, Loki?" he asked quietly and tensed at the silence.

"You know who I am." the silence broke and Peter huffed, cracking a smile. This conversation was going to be completely pointless and disappointing at the same time.

"No I don't, no one knows you, except maybe Thor. You're a complete mystery, and maybe you like it that way, but I need validation for my opinion, especially right now, so," He sat up straight and turned so he was staring straight at the god, elbows resting on his knees, "Who are you?"

Loki copies his pose, eyes glimmering their serpent green as they narrow, Peter felt as if he were peering right through him. Then, the trickster sat back up, his stance relaxing though it still felt as if he were studying the teen.

"I am Loki Laufeyson of Jotunheim, raised by Odin and Frigga in the realm of Asgard, 6 years ago I tried to take over New York under the influence of the mind stone. I was taken back to Asgard and kept prisoner there for 2 years before my brother broke me out because he needed help defeating the Dark Elves, then I faked my death to take the place of my father by using my magic to take on his appearance. Thor found out before the events of Ragnarok and our father died, which led to a sister that I didn't know existed being released from the realm Helheim where she tried to take over Asgard before being defeated by Surtur, leading to Asgard being destroyed. I, Thor, and the remaining survivors of Ragnarok took shelter on another planet before Thor went off to do whatever you Avengers do, and somehow I ended up here."

Peter stared blankly, "Okay." He said slowly and nodded to himself, "You didn't answer my question, but okay."

Loki tilted his head, his forehead crinkling in confusion, "I-I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Okay then, what's your favorite color?" When Loki squints this time, it's out of confusion instead of just scrutinizing Peter.

"Has anyone ever told you you're incredibly confusing?" the god asked, tilting his head as Peter shrugged.

"I'm just trying to get to know the guy that tried to take over my home, what's so confusing about that?" Loki shook his head and sat up straight again, not taking his eyes off Peter.

"Everything," Peter smirked and shrugged once again, "Your mentor is calling for you," Loki stated, and now Peter looked confused, glancing up at the ceiling then the door.

"What?" He asked, turning back to Loki with his confused puppy look.

"Stark. I'm a god remember? I can hear him. Run along now." He waved his hand in a disregarding gesture and Peter slowly stood up, making his way to the door and setting his hand on the handle before Loki interrupted him.

"Green." Peter turned his head.

"What?"

"You asked what my favorite color was. It's green."

Peter smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a month since I've posted so sorry about that, school's kind of stressful. I've been working on an original superhero which is actually fun so if you guys are interested in that I may do a series on her.
> 
> Criticism and opinions are always welcome.
> 
> Official Tumblr and Instagram: spiritxwolf
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter meets Scott and Hope + Dad!Tony

"Hope and Scott are coming down here today just so you know," Bruce announces after almost 20 minutes of working with Tony and Peter in silence, making both of them startle slightly.

"How come I don't learn of these things sooner, it's my tower!" Peter smirks as he leans over a tablet, Bruce and Tony lightly bicker in the background as he focuses on the graphs of information on the mind and space stone in interest.

Once he realizes that the sharp words that are being thrown around between two grown men aren't going to stop anytime soon, he looks up, "Who even are Scott and Hope?" Bruce looks at Tony expectantly, and the brunet ignores him but looks to Peter anyway.

"Ant-Man and The Wasp. They have suits that make them small, or big I guess on occasion, when they need to be." Peter grins in recognization at the description.

"Yeah, he like, freaked out an entire boat of people and then passed out right?" Bruce laughs, and Tony rolls his eyes.

"Yes, he did that. Which is why you're not allowed to go near him." Peter gapes, and the billionaire smirks.

"Why!?" He pouts, trying his best to bring out his inner puppy to convince the normally inconvincible mentor to at least meet the two heroes.

"Because, one, he is literally a child, two you're gonna come up with some bug-themed club that I don't need in my life." Peter tilts his head to the side and thinks for a second.

"That's not a bad idea, I'm gonna have to talk to Natasha about that." Tony groans and he distantly hears Bruce trying not to laugh at his friend's distress.

"When are they coming, Dr. Banner?" Bruce turns around and shares a quick glance with Tony before looking back to Peter.

"I don't know, a couple of hours maybe?" Tony huffs and turns back to Peter, spreading his arms out in mock disappointment.

"Well, guess you have to leave in, at most, an hour! Sorry, buddy." Peter slumps his shoulders, and Tony cocks his head to the side, dropping the act.

"Mr. Staaarrk." He whines, and the brunet tries to hold eye contact with Peter's near perfected puppy eyes but fails because no one could beat that, except Aunt May.

"Fine, you can say hello, I guess." Tony rolls his eyes at Peter's excited squeak and the thank you but Bruce notices the slight uplift of the corner's of his mouth, and he gets a smirk of his own.

\----------

As promised, a couple of hours later, JARVIS alerts them that a man and a woman going by the names of Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne are requesting access into the tower.

Tony gives Peter a look as the teenager beams at the news and gives his AI the permission to let the two up. "Come on." Tony starts off towards the lab door, and Peter follows like the excited puppy he is.

They meet in the lobby, and Peter's maybe buzzing with excitement as the two heroes greet Tony and then turn to him with the same comforting and inviting smile they gave his mentor.

He shakes both of their hands, keeping it polite and being careful not to let his smile get too psychotic, "Hey, I'm Peter, nice to meet you."

The woman held her hand out, and Peter shook it with surprising ease, "I'm Hope, nice to meet you." The man who stood next to her and grinned, lifting a hand in the same manner his partner did after she stepped back.

"Scott. Pleasure."

Tony rolled his eyes before breaking through the handshake to head towards the elevator, "Come on, kiddies, chop chop." Scott and Peter followed immediately while Hope returned the eye roll with one of her own at his sarcastic tone, but ended up on the other side of Scott anyway.

The common room was empty since Natasha and Clint were down in the gym, Steve, Bucky, and Sam were on a mission, Bruce was down in the lab, Thor was visiting the surviving Asgardians, Wanda and Vis were in their room, and Peter and Tony just showed up.

Peter let the heroes pass before walking in behind them and shutting the door, perking up as Tony started asking questions when the three sat down. He followed and sat down in the loveseat, curiously leaning into the conversation.

"So, who's the bad guy of the week?" The brunet gets up as fast as he sat down and goes to get a snack and a cup of coffee, giving his mentee a look that asks if he wants anything and Peter nods, Tony immediately grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge and tossing it to him.

Scott and Hope share a quick look as Tony sits back down, chewing contentedly on a cookie as the two heroes seem to debate on saying anything too revealing.

Scott finally turns away from his partner and answers the question, "Just someone from Hank's past that he wanted to check on."

Tony nods and makes a sound at the back of his throat as he glances between the two, "So, who is it?"

Hope interjects before Scott can say anything and the man respectfully closes his mouth, "We don't want to throw our problems onto the Avengers as well, he won't be too hard to handle if anything goes wrong."

The billionaire dusts his hands off and sprinkles cookie crumbs over his high-quality pants, making Peter cringe, before shrugging, "Backup's never a bad thing, right?"

Scott and Hope glance at each other and nod hesitantly before turning back to Tony with smiles, "Yeah, 'course." Scott says, and Peter knows somethings off and by the looks of it, so does Tony.

"Okay," He glances between them and sits up straighter, "Something's up. What's going on?"

Scott's body language instantly changes, and Peter's not even that good at reading body language, but obviously this 'bad guy' is a bad guy.

"Listen, it's not like we wouldn't tell you, but Hank's very secretive about his own grudges, and if he finds out we told you, he would kill me and then ground Hope for life, so." Scott grimaces and shrugs innocently.

Tony leans back and raises a brow, studying them carefully like a dad would if he were trying to decide if his children were lying or not, then he sighs and lets his intimidating stance drop, "Fine. But if this guy turns out dangerous, at least consult in someone."

Scott tilts his head in confusion, "Like who? A vigilante? Spiderman? There's not really any other superheroes besides the Avengers."

Both Tony and Peter tense up at the name and the billionaire goes back into defense mode in seconds, "No. Not Spiderman, that guy's way too inexperienced." He pauses to relax, "Just like.. Shield, or at least the trashy New York police, I don't know. Just don't go in without a plan A through Z."

Tony glances at Peter after the other two heroes agree and turn to talk, unquestionably hinting at the inexperienced part. Peter crosses his arms and pouts dramatically, making Tony scoff and roll his eyes.

"Anyway, are you guys gonna spend the night here before doing your weird, secret, check-up, mission thing?" Tony asks, making a complicated hand gesture to go along with the confused description of their reason to be here.

"Um, we were just planning on getting dinner somewhere then spending the night at a hotel." Tony raises his chin slightly, then nods slowly, grinning mischievously.

"As in _dinner_ and _spend the night_?" Scott blushes as easily as a girl with a crush in high school and Hope rolls her eyes at the suggestive tone that Tony uses while Peter makes a wild gesture to himself and speaks up for the first time since this conversation started.

"Hey, hey, _hey_! There's a _child_ in your presence, save the innuendos for when I go home!" He keeps a straight face until Tony turns to look at him, then he starts trying the hold back a laugh but breaks into a smile anyway.

Tony smiles too, and Scott's still blushing, and Hope's arms are still crossed, but there's a half smile on her face. Peter's actually enjoying himself as the conversation takes a more casual turn. Scott talks about his daughter and gushes about how much she and Hope love each other. Peter talks about how his summer's going and things he's working on in the lab. Tony brags about his mentee and makes a snide remark about the lack of Thor and the presence of Loki, but no one decides to comment about it.

Scott and Hope were all smiles and cartoon hearts dancing around their heads directed at each other, Tony keeps the sarcastic jokes up, and Peter's gleam of happiness in his eye seemed to brighten the room.

Scott and Hope leave at 6 with a friendly recommendation for dinner, courtesy of Peter, and another offer to stay at the tower from Tony which they declined with the excuse of not wanting to be a bother, prompting Tony to wiggle his eyebrows and make a disbelieving ' _uh huh_.'

Tony turned back to Peter, who was sitting back on the couch with a yogurt cup in his hand that he had somehow managed to grab in the 20-second exchange between the other heroes.

"You're getting better at the whole meeting your idols thing." He comments, walking past and ruffling the teen's hair on his way to the kitchen. Peter makes an indignant noise with a mouthful of his snack in his mouth and Tony chuckles.

"They're less intimidating cause they didn't question my presence immediately." He explains, shoving another spoonful past his lips as Tony fixes the leftovers of Bucky's alfredo chicken, "He's gonna kill you for that, y'know." Peter waves his spoon at the styrofoam container and the billionaire shrugs.

"He can get over it."

\----------

As Tony's driving Peter back to Queen's in a too-fancy-car he glances over at his backpack that has the signature blue and red peeking out carelessly, "You do know you're not allowed to interfere with their mission, right?" He asks, and Peter looks up from his phone with a look of confusion before remembering who they're talking about.

His eyes widen slightly, and he seems shocked, or offended, maybe both. "Why not?" Tony glances at the time and slows down, figuring they have time to talk about this.

"For the reason that I clearly stated earlier, you're not experienced enough." Peter shakes his head slightly, and Tony rolls his eyes, already expecting the comeback.

"They said it wasn't going to be serious!" Tony grips the wheel with two hands as he makes a kind of dangerous move to do the turn he's aiming for.

"Yeah, cause they're responsible adults who know how to handle dangerous situations." He instantly replies, and Peter furrows his eyebrows and turns to look at Tony.

"Weren't you the one who said that Scott was a child." Tony's about to say something about it being a joke, and he pauses because it's honestly not, and he sighs.

"Whatever. The point is, we don't know who they're dealing with and I'm not taking the risk, and neither are you." Peter wants to argue, and Tony can see that even though he's only occasionally glancing at the teen with his peripheral vision.

"You know I can't just sit in my room if I know they're in danger, right?" Peter says as he's about to get out of the car and Tony nods his head but turns to look at him even if it's uncomfortable.

"That's why the Avengers exist, kid." Peter sighs, ducks his head and gets out of the car, but he stops once again when he's standing and turns almost looking like he's regretting doing this before he's even done it.

"How am I supposed to get experience if you won't let me?" He asks and Tony sighs, peering up at the teen with an apology written in his eyes.

"You have to crawl before you walk, and walk before you run, and run before you fly. It's a slow process, but you'll get there, you're only 16, kid. You have the time."

Peter looks down and nods, closing the door and giving the billionaire a half smile and a wave before he turns to walk up the path.

Tony leans his head back and stares up at the roof of his car, "You're a hypocrite, Stark." He mutters to himself before looking back down and starting off down the road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who has her inspiration back! kind of, I mean.. we're getting there.
> 
> Anyway, I had this idea of making side series with like 3-5 fics each of little stories about Peter and the other avengers. So like, Natasha and Peter get small short-stories and their own little series. Same thing with Steve and Tony, and then like a completely different thing for Peter and Loki. I don't know, just an idea I had.
> 
> Criticism and opinions are always welcome.
> 
> Official Tumblr and Instagram: spiritxwolf
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ned comes to the tower and Mama spider makes an appearance.

You know that stereotypical scene in any teen romance movie where the lovesick girl is staring out the window in a very depressed manner? Now take Peter Parker and replace the girl with him and you'll get the picture of how he's feeling.

And yeah, maybe he's dramatic, but it's for a good reason! His mentor his denying him the chance to prove himself to the other heroes, anyone would be disappointed.

It was the next morning after the night before, and Peter desperately wanted to go on patrol. Just because he needed to feel like he was of use at the moment, except it was so hot outside with not only the sun beaming down on them full force, but the pollution adding another 6 degrees would prohibit him from getting any work done.

He had been texting MJ and Ned back and forth for the past hour, trying to entertain himself by making references to make them laugh or looking at stupid memes that were somewhat appealing.

Tony hadn't contacted him in any way to give him permission to come to the tower so of course, he wasn't going to head over there, even if he could get past the security with ease if he wanted to.

He studied the skyline of Queens and watched the cars drive by beneath the window, he imagined himself jumping on to the wall of the building next door as he did so often, and started thinking about all of his previous patrols and the people he had stopped, then resulting in thinking about all the failed patrols.

He huffed and stood up, wanting to take a shower and eat half his body weight in junk food, but that didn't happen because his phone went off from where it had been left on his nightstand.

The persistent buzzing convinced him to not ignore it, and he walked over and flipped the electronic over, finding a famous billionaire's name flashing at him across the screen. He picked up almost immediately, and the faint beeping sounds of the lab came through instantly.

"Hey, kid." Tony greeted him as he usually did and Peter grinned.

"Hey, Mr. Stark. You need me for something? Anything really? It doesn't even have to be that urgent, but is there anything, at all?" Tony laughs at Peter's very desperate tone and sets his phone on his lab table, taking a second to put the phone on speaker before continuing his work on Dum-E.

"So, I was correct in thinking that you were bored?" He asks in a teasing voice, and Peter rolls his eyes, dropping on to the bed.

"Understatement of the year. I would go to a sewing class if it meant getting out of this room." He hears the laughing smile on Tony's face before the billionaire starts talking.

"Okay, spiderling, get over here and don't die of a heat stroke." The man chuckles, and Peter's already changing into a more acceptable outfit and throwing his mask on, really not caring about how strange it looks.

He's  _really_ bored.

He hangs up the call with a promise to be there in fifteen minutes and jumps out the window, instantly suffocating under the New York heat. He swings past the traffic, trying to decide to stay low or go high and ends up alternating between.

Rolling in through an open window into the beautiful air-conditioned room is probably the best thing to ever happen to Peter Parker.

JARVIS greets him as usual, and the teen grins and says a cheerful hello, walking down the hall to the elevator while chatting to the AI about upgrades for Karen.

Tony was in the lab as expected, along with Natasha and Steve which made Peter tense up because of course, the two Avengers who he cried on were in the same room as his boss.

"Hey, kid." Tony spares a look up at the teenager, and Peter offers a half wave as he turns to set his bag down. Natasha smiles at him once he's facing the three again and Steve nods in greeting, he has his captain face on, and Peter feels like he's interrupting an important meeting between the three.

He doesn't know whether to go over to his own projects or talk to Tony first, but Steve is speaking in a low voice to a somewhat disinterested billionaire, so Peter takes a couple of steps in the direction of his usual lab table, immediately catching the attention of his mentor.

"Nope, not today, get over here. I need help with something, and you're better at science than I am." Tony responds to Peter's soundless point to his work, really not wanting to interrupt whatever Avengers business is going on.

Peter glances between the lab table then to Tony, then to Steve and Natasha before hesitantly walking over with a quiet, "I doubt that, but okay."

He reaches the edge of the table, and the brunet slides over a wacky piece of metal, covered in...something and glances up at Peter as he takes it in, "Alien technology. Figure it out. Go." He grins at Peter's expression before turning to look at the other two heroes with exasperation, "Now what did you want, Capsicle?"

Peter picks up the slab of cardboard that's holding the piece of tech, oddly resembling an arm of some sorts, and carries it carefully to a clear table, eyebrows scrunched in concentration as he tries to figure out what it _is_.

The clear table quickly becomes cluttered as Peter works to dissect the advanced technology, but the substance that's covering it is preventing him from getting to the core.

Tony's in a hushed, what seems like, heated debate with Cap, so Peter decides not to interrupt that conversation and instead, grabs his phone out of his hoodie pocket and takes a couple of pictures, sending them to Ned with a quick explanation of his predicament.

His friend never takes long to respond so when his phone buzzes on the table 30 seconds later and glances over to see Ned coming up with creative suggestions, he's not surprised. Then he sends the last text that Peter pauses to actually open.

_Spider-buddy: Idk man :/ it would be easier if I were there ;))))_

Peter chuckles under his breath and texts back quickly, still assessing Ned's suggestions at the same time.

_Web-Slinger: very sly, I'll see what I can do._

Again, it doesn't take his friend too long to respond.

_Spider-buddy: wait really???_

Peter doesn't answer, glancing over at Tony, who's rubbing the bridge of his nose and Peter feels guilty to even think of asking to bring over another 17-year-old. He doesn't have the right, really, but Ned could be a big help. Peter could also bring the piece home and have his friend come over there, but he doesn't know how he would even get the thing all the way to Queens.

Natasha notices Peter looking over at Tony with a conflicted expression on his face, and she tilts her head slightly, but Peter's too deep in his own thought that he doesn't notice her concern until she starts walking over.

Peter snaps out of whatever he was thinking about as she slides behind the table next to him, "How's it going, Spider Guy?" She asks with a friendly tone, and he looks over at her.

"Fine, uh, yeah, fine. Just, this thing is more complicated than I thought." He answers semi-truthfully, Natasha raises a brow as he leans on the heels of his hands to study the foreign object and the spy hums thoughtfully.

"Is that why you've been looking over at Stark like a lost puppy?" She taunts with a smirk, and Peter stands up straight again.

"No," He says defensively, but he's avoiding eye contact so it obviously was, "I just- my friend could probably help out with this, and I don't wanna stress Mr. Stark out even more than he already is," Peter explains with a pointed look towards his mentor and Natasha understands when she looks over as well.

"Just invite him over, I can tell Tony that I'll watch over you guys and he can go and have this meeting that Steve's been telling him about for the past 10 minutes." Peter looks relieved, but the concern is still present on his face as he looks up at Natasha.

"Are you sure? I know the Black Widow has better things to do than babysit two teenagers, one of which will definitely freak out in her presence." Natasha smiles and puts a hand on the teen's shoulder.

"It's fine, паук. I promise." Peter nods a little quickly and grabs his phone off the table, texting his friend back in a very timely manner.

_Web-Slinger: You can come over_

_Web-Slinger: Just so you know, Black Widow will be our babysitter, so don't freak out too much_

_Spider-buddy: Really!?!!?! That's awesome!!!_

Natasha smiles at the kid's chuckle as he sets his phone down again, getting back to work immediately even though he doesn't know what he's doing.

"Do you happen to know where this came from?" He asks a minute later and the ex-assassin glances over his shoulder at the piece of tech and scrunches her eyebrows together.

"Probably something Shield found, almost looks like it could be related to the chitauri." Peter hums and grabs a scraper of some sorts and tries to get underneath the resistant substance that's covering the object once again, and it doesn't work, so he huffs and hunches his shoulder, tossing the tool back into the clutter.

"What do you think it is?" Natasha asks in turn to Peter's question and the teen shrugs.

"Who knows? Probably something from an alternate universe where the Avengers don't exist, and some bad guy was able to advance his freaky take-over-the-world technology." Peter answers in a defeated tone and Natasha flicks his ear as she chuckles.

"Very creative mind up here, huh?" He glances at her with a small smile and shrugs.

"Maybe. Never thought of myself as a creative person." Natasha rolls her eyes at that and grabs his backpack, unzipping it and pulling out the spider suit.

"Pete, you invented this, and the very genius thing on your wrist, you've also designed hulk sedatives and weapons for both assassins on this team." She sets his bag back down and stands up straight with crossed arms, "I think that's pretty creative."

Peter glances from his wrist, then to his bag, then back to her with wide eyes and nods his head slowly, "Yeah, I guess so." Natasha pats his shoulder in a friendly, teasing manner.

"We've gotta work on your confidence, kid." Peter smiles at the assassin's words.

"Yeah, maybe."

Ned does show up, and Tony's very confused when JARVIS announces that an unknown boy has shown up at his tower per Peter's request and his mentee scrambles to try and explain, but Natasha grabs the teen's shoulder, gives a pointed look to Tony then steers the stammering kid out of the lab.

Ned is as starstruck as Peter when he first started coming here, and he smiles at his friend's gaping expression as he looks around the fancy lobby of the tower.

Peter gives him a quick hug out of pure gratefulness and steps back, quickly reminding his friend not to freak out too much when he hears Natasha come up behind him.

He lets Natasha introduce herself as Ned does his best not to flip, "Woah, nice to meet you, Black Widow. You're awesome."

The spy glances at Peter with a smirk before turning back to Ned, "You too, Ned." His friend turns to him with astonishment and whispers loudly.

"She knows my name!?" Peter grabs his friends arm and leads him back to the lab quickly, Natasha right behind them; she lets them go off to Peter's lab station as she walks over to Tony.

"Go to the meeting before I tell Pepper, I've got the kids and Steve's about ready to crash a plane into the Arctic again." Tony looks up at her from where he's sitting down at his table with a raised eyebrow, but stands up anyway and walks out.

Ned and Peter are already hard at work by the time she's on her way over, and she catches Ned's suggestion.

"Have you thought about burning it off?" Peter shrugs and leans back, running a frustrated hand through his fading purple hair.

"Yeah," he sighs, "I don't wanna damage the actual tech though, I don't know if there are circuits underneath the metal or whatever it is, messing that up would be critical."

"Smart thinking, but I don't think whatever world-ruling villain from an alternate universe would be stupid enough to make a material weak enough for a chemical to burn through." Natasha offers, and Peter looks like he's thinking about it.

"Okay, we can try a small part first, somewhere where circuits aren't likely to be." Peter agrees, not bothered by Natasha's light teasing about his earlier joke.

Ned and Peter get to work at a different lab station, creating a suitable chemical as Natasha keeps an eye on them, but she trusts them enough that she relaxes and finds a book in the back of the lab to stay busy with.

\----------

Peter leans back in a rolly chair with lab goggles resting on his head and his eyes burning, the tech is completely cleared of the substance and still smoking slightly, but Natasha was right. The object is completely unharmed.

Ned left awhile ago with a starstruck wave to Black Widow and a promise to call Peter later, so when Tony walks in, it's not as awkward as Peter would've thought.

Natasha stands up, her book being finished 30 minutes ago, and walks over to an exhausted Peter; she lays a hand on his shoulder and seems to hesitate before pressing a chaste kiss to his messed up hair which surprises all three people in the room.

The teen looks up at her as she stands up straight, "One day I'm going to convince your overprotective boss to let us train together," She smirks and walks away as Peter smiles.

She nods at Tony as a goodbye and walks out of the lab. Tony glances from the shutting door to Peter in rapid succession in confusion before shaking his head and making his way over to the teen who has his eyes closed.

"Good job, kid." He ruffles the teen's already scattered hair and Peter sits up straight.

"Thanks, Mr. Stark. What do you think it is?" Peter looks at the foreign object with a tilted head as his mentor does the same.

"I don't know. Maybe I'll ask Thor about it when he gets back. That guy has seen enough to know something." Peter's half-delirious as he squints at the piece of tech and he kind of knows what he's saying but at the same time, really doesn't.

"Or Loki." Tony takes a second to try and think of a reply, but the idea of asking the admittedly smart god about the object doesn't seem like a bad idea.

"Yeah, I guess, or Loki." He grabs the kids backpack and pulls it over his shoulder, grabbing the kids shoulder to wake him up a little, "Come on, kid. I'll drive you home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really working hard for once in my life, which almost feels good. I go back to school tomorrow so be prepared for all of my creative juices to be drained.
> 
> Criticism and opinions are always welcome.
> 
> Official Tumblr and Instagram: spiritxwolf
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is inspired and Peter is very excited.

Maybe Tony has been thinking about Peter saying that he wasn't letting the kid get experience a lot lately, and the more he thinks about it, the more he realizes the kid is _right_. But so what? The kid is naive; it's entirely valid for him to hold Peter back from going after people that aren't necessarily _smarter_ than him, just more experienced in the combat area.

So when the billionaire is having another one of those nights where there are too many thoughts in his head, he goes to floor 38 and starts clearing out one of the biggest rooms in the building. He gets rid of old lab equipment, and couches, the old mini-fridge in the corner isn't working anymore, so there's no use for that, and the lights are way too bright anyway.

He's left with old tiles and bare walls with a few holes where projects went wrong, so he gets to work on that next. He tears up the floorings and tosses them out the door, he finds a wall repair kit in storage and figures out how to use it in fifteen minutes, so then he's left with bare concrete and better walls that'll get an upgrade in the future.

He makes his way down to the underground floors, gets an entire cart of dummies that he programmed for the Avengers to train with when they get tired of punching bags and each other. There's twenty in total, so he gets to work making them Peter Parker friendly, downgrading the hard mode and giving them weak spots for webbing.

It's three AM when he sets them up along the back wall of the now not empty room, there are bags under his eyes, but he smiles at the underwhelming space. It's a room just for Peter where he doesn't have to worry about the other Avengers getting in his business and trying to give him tips, a place where he can gain experience.

At four AM there is extra padding on the walls, and JARVIS is trying to make his boss go to bed, but Tony's really excited and buzzing with caffeine, so he ignores his exasperated AI and continues adjusting and readjusting the robots and padding.

"What do you think, J," Tony asks the empty room and his AI's voice crackles through the worn out, hidden speakers.

"I think you should go to _sleep_ , sir." The genius rolls his eyes and turns in a circle in the middle of the room.

"About the room." He states and his AI almost sighs but gives his maker his approval.

"I wish these guys were made out of vibranium, they're gonna be like soda cans to the kid's spidey strength," Tony mutters mostly to himself, but JARVIS still gives his input.

"I'm sure the king of Wakanda would allow you to borrow enough to make a sufficient amount." Tony narrows his eyes at the lifeless eyes of the dummies and thinks.

"That's their power supply, J. They live off that stuff." Tony tries to think, but his AI is very persistent.

"Yes, they do. But Mr. Parker also needs to live in case of the dire situations that you're trying to ready him for." Tony knows his AI is right, and this is precisely the reason why he made him.

"Okay, I'll call him tomorrow, or today, I guess."

" _Now_ will you please go to sleep, sir?" Tony chuckles and makes his way out the door.

The billionaire wakes up at eleven, passed out on the couch in his lab and sits up. It's Monday, which means Happy will be driving Peter over at some time, and Tony is now more awake and buzzing with excitement to show his mentee the room he spent all night on.

He decides to wait to call T'challa until Peter's here so the teen can meet the king, it's no doubt going to be hilarious to see the kid try and figure out how to address him.

Happy calls him on his second cup of coffee, telling him the kid will be over in at least 10 minutes, Tony beams happily and thanks his driver, who is wary of the positive attitude his boss is in.

Peter does show up 10 minutes later, a backpack is thrown over his shoulder as usual, and as smiley as ever, he greets his boss with enthusiasm when he sets his bag down, and Tony beams at him as he has to everyone he's seen today.

Peter immediately notices the shift in mood and looks at Tony curiously, "What's going on?" He asks and Tony shrugs.

"Nothing much, I just have a present for you." Peter seems shocked at the news which does dampen the billionaire's mood a little, but his smile is still giddy and shining when he practically drags the kid out of their usual workplace and down to the 38th floor.

He stands next to Peter in front of the door to the kid's new training spot and gives him the go-ahead to open it. Peter turns the knob hesitantly and pushes the door open, stepping inside with Tony directly behind him.

The genius heads the center of the room and faces Peter with his arms spread out dramatically, "So, what do you think?"

The kid seems confused, but he slowly takes in the padded walls and disabled robots, and he suddenly realizes what's happening, "Oh my god, you built a training room for me?" Peter's smiling in excitement now too and walking around the room as Tony watches him happily.

The teen pushes against the padding, and it gives just enough that if someone were to be thrown against it, it would protect them from being too injured like Tony wanted it to be.

"When did you start working on this?" Peter asks as he studies the robots and Tony looks around the room.

"Last night." He answers simply, and Peter turns around quickly, gaping in shock.

"You built this all _last night_?" Tony nods, oblivious to Peter's startled state.

"Okay, come on. I have another surprise, but we have to go up to the common room for that one." Peter follows Tony out of the room and to the elevator.

"What did I do to deserve all this, were you really that happy with my work with the alien tech?" Peter asks, very confused about why his mentor built an entire training pad for him and why he's currently taking him somewhere else to show him something.

"It's not that, you did great, but it's not about that. I just wanted you to have somewhere you can go to train and get better at being Spiderman without all the others trying to give you tips without you asking for them." Tony explains in a rather simple way, and Peter smiles.

"Thank you, Mr. Stark. I appreciate it." Tony grins down at his mentee as the elevator doors open, and the pair steps out.

"Don't thank me yet, you haven't gotten the second surprise."

The common room is empty when they walk in, but Tony pays no attention to that and heads over to the windows near the back corner, he pulls up a hologram and swipes through different numbers before deciding on one.

It rings for a second and Peter's really confused until a familiar face pops up.

"Hello, Tony. How are you doing?" The accent is very familiar, and Peter is shell-shocked.

The billionaire grins, "Great, chief. How's Wakanda?" The king tells him about the recent upgrades in the lab, and how his sister and mother are doing and the two go back in forth in friendly conversation until Tony pulls Peter to his side.

"Anyway, Catman, I wanted you to meet my intern. This is Peter." The king smiles and greets the wide-eyed teen as he glances between the screen and Tony.

"H-hey, um, Your Majesty? I-I'm Peter." T'challa nods and Tony continues on.

"Anyway, I wanted to ask if Stark Industries could borrow some vibranium, more specifically for this guy right here." Peter furrows his eyebrows and looks up at his mentor who's focused on the screen.

"What does he need it for?" T'challa doesn't seem hostile at the request which Tony's grateful for.

"Well," the billionaire glances down at the teen and quietly asks if he can tell the king about his powers, Peter hesitates but nods slowly and Tony continues, "he has superhuman strength and the training robots I have are no match against them so, we kind of need a stronger material that could last longer."

"I'll see what I can do, Tony. There's no guarantee that there will be enough for building robots, but I'll see what I can do." Tony thanks him with a smile and the call ends.

\----------

The vibranium gets there within the next week, 40 solid pounds of the strongest metal on earth is brought to the Avengers tower on one of Wakanda's fancy-schmancy invisible jets. The Dora Milaje keep it short and straightforward, Okoye does flash Tony a smile as she climbs back on board though.

He's able to get it all down to his lab in 6 trips, and he thanks whoever made this wonderful, wonderful material for making it lightweight.

He gets to work immediately, replacing parts of the old robots quickly and making entirely new ones from the leftover metal. The shiny, indestructible robots are placed back into Peter's training room.

He has JARVIS contact Natasha for him, and the redhead picks up quicker than usual, she sounds like she's on her bike, but Tony doesn't ask why, "Hey Widow, wanna come try out the new bots I built for Webhead?"

"Can I ask why there are bots for Webhead?" Her voice comes through the line, even with the sounds of engines revving and the wind rushing past her.

"So he wouldn't have to deal with Mr. Captain America in the gym," Tony explains and gazes around at the plain walls.

He hears her light scoff and zones back into the conversation, "Yeah right, you just want to spoil him." The billionaire rolls his eyes and tries to think of a comeback, but all that comes to his head is a lame,

"Like you _wouldn't_ spoil him?"

"Whatever, Stark. I'll be there in 5." The call cuts off abruptly, and Tony can't help but smirk at the redhead's sudden defensiveness on the subject of Peter.

When Natasha gets there, the two spend some time just kicking the robots around, trying out all of the levels of hardness until all 23 of them are laying on the ground, disabled. Tony grins, and Natasha rolls her eyes with a smirk and her hands positioned on her hips, just slightly out of breath.

"Should I call the spiderling over?" The billionaire asks, and the spy looks over at him with a raised brow.

"Probably, am I free to go now?" Tony turns to face her more directly and crosses his arms, the redhead giving him an unimpressed look in response.

"You're not gonna stick around to watch your favorite vigilante show off his combat moves on vibranium robots? That's gonna hurt his feelings real bad, Nat." The assassin doesn't seem phased by Tony's joke and stays quiet, narrowing her eyes up at the man.

"Fine, Stark. I'll stay because I'm curious about Peter's knowledge in this area." The genius grins because he's so excited to see Peter try and impress not only his mentor but one of the best assassins in the world.

Tony calls the kid, and he can tell through the phone that Peter's buzzing with excitement, so he's not really surprised when a particular red and blue decked vigilante swings past the window not more than 10 minutes later.

Peter's hair is ruffled, and he's visibly winded from his speedy trip across queens, but he's still beaming at the two Avengers, then he looks over at the upgraded robots on the back wall and bounces on the balls of his feet.

"They're finished?" He asks simply and Tony nods, sparing a teasing glance at Natasha who's at his side.

"Yeah, kid. Widow, over here had a blast kicking them around." The spy rolls her eyes at his teasing, but she smiles nonetheless at the overexcited teen in the doorway.

Tony sets the bots to moderate mode and tells Peter that he's gonna start with 4 and work his way up, the teen doesn't seem phased as he walks to stand in front of the back wall, not bothering to put his mask back on.

The bots swarm around him, and Peter's still grinning like a maniac as he flips one over his shoulder, directly into the second bot's chest, continuing to roundhouse kick another, knocking it into the newly padded wall. He does a full flip to hit the other one in the head just because he can.

Tony's standing outside the one-way mirror he had placed to observe Peter with an impressed look on his face, Natasha isn't phased, but her chin is tilted up in what seems like pride.

And they keep going like that, adding a bot each time Peter passes a round. When they reach 12, Tony turns them onto hard mode. The bots start grabbing at the teen, and the billionaire can feel an urge to shut them all off when Peter visibly winces as one pinches at his arm, but he knocks it off of him and throws it towards to others.

Peter defeats 16 at a time before he throws in the towel, he grins at Tony when the billionaire walks in. His hair is even more messed up than before, darkened with sweat and he's huffing out short breaths, the suit is sticking to his skin, and the kid knows there's probably a couple of bruises from hitting the bots too hard at one point, but he doesn't care.

Natasha tosses him a water bottle and the kid pops it open with ease, downing half of it in one go. Tony slaps him on the back before wrapping a loose arm around his aching shoulders, "You did good, kid. I think Nat's impressed." The billionaire winks at the redhead because he knows he's right.

Natasha gives Peter a nod and a half smile, "You did well for someone your age." Peter completely beams at her praise, the grin practically splitting his face in two.

"Okay, let's go. We can get some food in you before heading down to the lab." Peter nods, capping his water as Tony pulls him towards the door.

Natasha ruffles his hair as he passes and shuts the lights off once they're out, smiling to herself as she hears the kid blabber on about how cool it is to have his own gym.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's this, it wasn't even really planned, kind of just happened. Thank you guys for the comments, they help me so much, you have no idea. And we're also almost to 1,000 kudos which is insane to me?? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, you'll get a new one soon.
> 
> Criticism and opinions are always welcome.
> 
> Official Tumblr and Instagram: spiritxwolf
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter has a hard night and calls Tony then talk to Thor about Loki

The alarm clock's red numbers were too bright.

 _Way_ too bright for Peter's bleary vision and foggy mind. The thoughts nipping at the back of his skull, for what felt like days, had given him panic attack after panic attack.

One too many thoughts about if he didn't have May, or if Ben was still alive, if his _parents_ were still alive, Spiderman, MJ and Ned, his future, what it meant to _be_ Peter Parker.

The teen sat up suddenly and swung his legs over the side of his twin bed, feeling antsy and out of control. He sighed and rested his elbows on his knees, dropping his head and taking a deep breath. He tousled his already messed up hair, trying to wrangle his mind back into place.

The room felt too cramped, with half-finished projects scattered across his small desk and floor, his lego sets sat dusty and untouched in the corner, he had been too busy with everything to invite Ned over and reassemble them, a few textbooks were still next to his computer and his backpack was leaning against the wall, opened for whatever reason.

His hands were cold, he was cold in general, but his hands were freezing and for some reason that bothered him. He flexed them slowly, and the joints cracked and loosened slightly, but they were still cold, and it still bothered him.

He felt a ball of anxiety coil in his chest and scrunched his eyes shut in frustration. He stood up and started pacing, picking at his palms and rubbing his wrists to try and just do something but nothing was working, nothing had worked all night.

There was always the web-shooters hidden in the back corner of his desk drawer and an accessible New York skyline, but the idea of going out and risking May checking on him only made the tightening feeling in his chest constrict.

He ended up opening the window a few minutes later when he felt like he was running out of oxygen. Ten minutes passed and was sitting on the edge of the roof, cradling his broken phone in his cold hands. His room had gotten too small.

The scene probably looked worse than it was to any fellow insomniacs passing by, but no one stopped to check on him which he was so very thankful for.

The night felt clearer than usual, clearer for Queens standard's anyway and Peter breathed it in, wanting it to dissolve the vice tied around his lungs, but he didn't feel any different after he exhaled. It almost seemed wrong to not be in the Spider suit sitting on top of a building; instead, he was Peter Parker in an oversized Captain Amerca T-shirt and Thor pajama bottoms.

He glanced down at his phone, clicking it on just to see the time, 4:38. The idea of calling Tony - or anyone really - was appealing, but he didn't know if he was asleep, and he couldn't risk that.

He tilted his head back and stared blankly at the starless sky, wishing to disappear for a couple of hours then instantly felt guilty about the thought, he couldn't think like that, not with what he has to lose.

What he wanted was to sleep, let his mind rest for a few hours that it had earned, but he just couldn't.

A tear managed to escape out of the corner of his eye, and he dropped his head, gazing down at the headlights of cars, sometimes hearing a distant conversation over the phone, making him think of calling his mentor once again.

More tears fell, slowly making their way down his face even when he tried to blink them away. He made a small noise of decision and pulled up the billionaire's contact, the contact picture of them both cross-eyed in the lab, which Tony had begrudgingly agreed to, managed to make the teen crack a lopsided smile and he had to pull back a sob.

He quickly pressed call before he was able to hesitate any longer and put it on speaker, setting it down on the edge of the building next to him. It didn't take long for him to answer, but it was long enough to give Peter a fleeting moment of panic.

"Hi, kid?" The man's voice had relief rushing through Peter, and he almost doubled over in sobs but managed to reel it back in and instead sniffled and brushed away the brand new tears.

"Hey," He greeted back, he didn't want to start the conversation this time, he didn't really know how.

"Are you crying?" He heard the shuffling of papers stop and the sound of Tony's wheely chair rolling across the lab floor.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Peter answered, flexing his hands once again when a breeze ruffled past him. Maybe he shouldn't have called, he could always hang up and hope this entire situation is never brought up in conversation ever again. But Tony was never going to let this go.

"I'm talking about your mental health, what's going on?" Peter sniffed once again, staring down at the little lightning bolts and Mjölnirs decorating his sleepwear and thinking how dumb it is since he actually knows Thor now.

"What if I hadn't gotten bitten by that spider? Or what if I did, but Ben never died? What if I didn't have May or MJ or Ned or you? I'm pretty sure I'd be dead by now if it weren't for four people, which I think is a little sad honestly, but still-" Peter blurted out in a rush, feeling the shaking in his hands intensify as he rambled until he was cut off by Tony's grounding voice.

"Kid, take a breath. Where are you right now?" Peter sharply inhaled and exhaled just as fast, the sky was turning a navy blue, and the glow of the sun was starting to shine behind buildings.

"Why does it matter?" Peter responded, borderline defensively which probably only spurred on Tony's worried state.

"Because it does. Now, where are you?" He asks again, more firmly and Peter closes his eyes, blocking out the overwhelming sights and sounds of New York waking up.

"On the roof." He answers simply, and he hears Tony start to stand up, "I'm fine, really, I'm not going to do anything."

"Why are you on the roof, Peter?" The teen shrugs, looks down, then up, then at the headlights again.

"My room felt too small, I couldn't sleep, I was about to have another panic attack, there's a lot of reasons now that I think about it." Tony huffs out a breath, and Peter does the same.

"How long have you been up there?" The billionaire asks, and he sits back down, making a motion to JARVIS to turn off his preprepared suit.

"Who knows?" Peter states simply and Tony rubs the bridge of his nose, he's too tired for this and by the sounds of it, so is the kid.

"Have you slept at all?" Peter sighs heavily, and he takes his time answering, watching as the glow of the sun starts to come up over the skyscrapers.

"No, couldn't." He answers shortly, flicking his focus back down to the sidewalk below, before glancing at his open window.

"Any specific reason?" The billionaire leans back against his chair and scrutinizes the layouts for the psychopath's floor. He has to put anything critical for survival or amusement if he wants the trickster to stay away from the rest of the team.

"Thoughts, maybe, I don't know." His socked feet hit the brick wall and bounce right back into the air, kicking at nothing as he stares past them to the concrete below. It's an intimidating sight, something a mentally healthy person would probably never see. Peter thought he was fine, he smiled and laughed, had friends even if it was only two (his age, but he doesn't really count the others.), his family of two was slightly dysfunctional, but it worked, so why was he staring at concrete, with nothing but 30 feet of air between him and it?

"Thoughts about what, kid? Come on, talk to me." Tony's voice is distinct and sharp with something akin to fear. Peter pauses, goes back through the night and picks out things that seem irrelevant until he has one remaining topic.

"Spiderman's going to ruin my life, isn't he?" All sound stops, for Tony at least, nothing changes for Peter on his side of the line except maybe for the lack of response coming from his phone.

"Kid-" He's about to say something, but he cuts himself off, not really sure of where he could've gone with that sentence, "Peter, I think Spiderman is one of the best things that could've ever happened to you. Why would you think-" Tony's flabbergasted, just slightly. Spiderman has always been important to the kid, why was that changing?

"Because- Mr. Stark, I started this and I'm never going to be able to end it. I couldn't get out of this gig even if I wanted to, and I don't, want to get out of it, I just mean-" He takes a breath, thinks about how neither of them have been able to finish sentences, then continues, "I'll have to be Spiderman until I physically can't anymore, that means no love-life, no long-term relationships with anyone in any way and maybe that's selfish because New York is always going to need protection, the little guy needs to have someone and Spiderman is the only someone that he has."

He finishes in one breath. It's dead silent on the other end, even to Peter's super-freak ears.

"Pete," Tony finally starts, and the teen finds himself exhaling heavily, "You do not need to be Spiderman for the rest of your life. You do not have a responsibility to be a superhero, you're sixteen, kid." Peter looks up to the light purple-ish sky and grabs his phone, standing up, which makes the concrete below ten times more intimidating, but he doesn't let himself get distracted by that.

Instead, he turns and walks away from the edge, phone held tightly in his hand as he tries to sort his words, "But it is my responsibility! New York doesn't-" He works to lower his frustration levels by counting back to one from five, it would be ten, but he doesn't have that kind of time.

"New York is so many things, Mr. Stark. But it's my home, and I have this-this gift that somehow ended up in my hands, and I have to do something with it. But this gift, this whatever, is going to make my life as bland as possible so I can only focus on it. You know I haven't texted my best friends, my only friends, in 4 days because I've been so busy with patrols and upgrades and ideas and everything else that goes into being New York's vigilante, that I haven't texted some of the people who matter most to me?"

He tries to breathe, but his chest is just constricting, and his lungs feel like they're going to collapse as he sits back down, now at the center of his roof. He finally stops trying so hard to keep his emotions under wraps and lets the bottle explode.

The ragged breaths coming over the phone make Tony's chest ache, and he stands up. He paces around the lab telling the kid to breathe and reminds himself to take a breath once in a while too.

It carries on like that for who knows how long until Peter's head feels hollow and he wants to sleep for the next 3 days. He hears Tony's relieved exhale as soon as his breathing evens out and sniffles, "I'm sorry." the teen mutters quietly, he takes a deep breath, and his lungs shake with the effort.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, kid. I get it." It doesn't take long for the billionaire to shake the worried tone from his voice and start making jokes, he doesn't hang up or let Peter hang up until he has the kid laughing, or at least smiling.

Once his phone is sitting back on the table with a black screen, Tony sits back down and cradles his head between his hands. The outline for Loki's floor stares right back up at him, and he mutters quietly, "I'm gonna die young."

\----------

The tower is mostly empty when Peter shows up. Pepper and Tony are at some business meeting in a different country, Steve, Sam, and Natasha are on a classified mission doing something heroic, Clint's with his nephews and niece, Bucky is _somewhere_ in the tower, Wanda and Vision decided to take a trip to Europe, and he hasn't heard or seen anything implying that Thor's there.

Peter would be doing something productive at his own house, but May's working late, Ned's on vacation with his family, and MJ is volunteering at a nursing home, so Peter is left alone with nothing to do except go to the tower.

He could go down to the lab if he wanted to since Tony had given him full access a couple weeks ago, but it would feel wrong to be in there without his mentor making sure he didn't accidentally catch himself on fire. So, the teen makes use of the unbreakable robots in the soundproof room that's built specifically for him.

It doesn't take long for him to work up a sweat since he has 17 robots set on danger mode because no one's there to tell him _not_ to do that. He focuses on one, gets it to the ground then pivots to the next one in a very strategic manner. His muscles are burning and aching by the time he's done six rounds, his hair might be drenched, and his shirt is definitely sticking to his torso and has multiple, good sized, rips.

He's starving and probably dehydrated by the time he's sitting on the floor surrounded by powered off robots. He gives his exhausted body a second before standing up and glancing down at his shirt, which isn't in the best condition for him to be walking around in a very high-class building.

There's probably an oversized shirt in an extra bedroom somewhere, and he feels kind of guilty at the thought of basically stealing one of Tony's shirts. He ends up walking to the room where he had first spent the night at the tower anyway and does find an MIT T-shirt in a drawer that looks like it's been worn a lot through the years.

He changes shirts and finds a pair of black sweatpants with a little bit of searching, then throws his clothes in the corner to grab later. He's starting to get hunger pains because he was an idiot and didn't grab breakfast, so he rushes up to the common room. He's in the middle of asking JARVIS what's in the kitchen when he steps through the door and sees the god of thunder eating what looks like a sandwich behind the counter.

Peter may be stuck with one foot through the door, and it is very possible that he has a deer-in-headlights expression. Thor doesn't seem to notice because he's smiling brightly with his cheeks stuffed full like a chipmunk.

"Young Peter! How have you been?" Peter's very obviously gaping, and Thor still doesn't notice as he takes another bite out of his sandwich. The teen finally snaps out of his stupor and nods quickly, takes a couple more steps into the room and closes the door.

"Y-yeah, I'm good, it's good." Peter runs his hands through his sweaty hair quickly then fiddles with the hem of the borrowed shirt. Thor is still grinning, and the resemblance to a golden retriever is stunning. Peter's face flushes red as he ducks his head to scurry past to the fridge, he's able to hide behind the door as he scans through his options.

"How is your Spiderman-ing going?" Thor asks again, not picking up on Peter's awkwardness and embarrassment. Peter nods, even though Thor can't see him at the moment, and grabs leftover macaroni.

"Good, I saved a cat from a tree and a sewer rat from getting killed by a plastic bag a few days ago, then I got a free ice cream cone from a guy who's daughter said she looked up to me which is cool, and a group of teenagers asked for a selfie." He's rambling, and he knows it, but he can't really stop as the microwave whirs and the food inside sizzles.

The god hums, taking another bite out of his sandwich, "Who did the cat belong to?" He asks around the food in his mouth and Peter isn't really used to people keeping a conversation going.

The microwave beeps semi-loudly, and he grabs a fork and the Tupperware container, "I think it was a stray, it could've belonged to someone, but it didn't have a collar and seemed pretty skinny, so I think it was probably a stray." Thor nods as Peter makes his way to sit near the corner of the bar.

The conversation lulls as Peter guessed it would until Thor starts up another one with his spontaneous ways, "He's been talking about you." Peter immediately thinks that he's talking about Tony and looks up worriedly, "Loki is."

That clarification doesn't help the new feeling of anxiety at all, and he straightens up more, forgetting about his hunger for a second, "Why?" Thor looks over and shrugs.

"He did not say why, he just mentioned that you had come down to see him and talk to him." Peter looks away and looks down at his macaroni, scrunching his eyebrows and taking another bite.

"Yeah, I just thought- I didn't want him to get too lonely down there." Thor nods and grins again, he does that a lot more than the other Avengers.

"I think he appreciates that." Peter's head shoots up again at that idea, and he chuckles nervously, "He would never admit it, but it seemed like he was not exactly bothered by your presence." Peter stays quiet, mulling over this new information.

It stays mostly quiet, other than Thor's shuffling as he makes another sandwich until Peter builds up the courage to ask something that's probably invading the trickster's privacy, "What was Loki like before the whole.." he pauses to try and phrase it right, "New York fiasco?"

Thor seems to think, "He has always been mischevious, even as a child, regularly playing pranks and fooling around in the throne room. He was also very quiet and observant, constantly thinking about what to do next, always calculating and weighing what humans call the 'pros and cons.' He followed mother around like a lost puppy, wanting to be just like her and learn her magic."

Peter can almost imagine a tiny Loki laughing and running away from royal guards as his mother watches on, not doing anything about his tricks. "Why did he want to learn magic?" Thor stares off into space as he thinks and seems to hesitate with his answer.

"Mother always said it was his light in the darkness, it let him have a little sun in the shadow that me and Father cast. While I was in classes about being a good king, he would be in the garden with mother practicing for hours. It brought him happiness and let him convey his emotions in a way that wasn't wrestling or sparring."

Peter nods, understanding that it helped Loki with anger, sadness or any other negative, and even positive ones on occasion. That's kind of what Spiderman is for Peter.

"Frigga helped Loki a lot while he was imprisoned, bringing him books and talking to him while everyone else shunned him. I think she even taught him a few more things about the family's history that we didn't learn in school. They were both important to each other, and when she was killed, I think that is when he stopped caring about anything."

"When my uncle Ben died, um- it did feel like that. Not really caring what happened to you or anyone else, but I still kind of did since I still had May and she was suffering too. I don't think many people can imagine not having anyone when the only person who you felt cared about you is gone." Thor nods in agreement and squints his eyes at the teen.

"Why are you so interested in Loki? He didn't do anything very significant to you to deserve respect or admiration." Peter blushes again, he's not a very big fan of being called out, so he ducks his head and shrugs.

"I don't think he deserves the constant hate he gets, I don't think it- New York wasn't really his fault. Being tortured and mind controlled probably wasn't fun, remembering everything he did is just the icing on top. And I probably don't have the right to express emotions he might not have, but that's what it seems like." He mumbles through half of his response, but Thor doesn't complain.

"Maybe I'll ask him about it, I highly doubt he'll say if you are correct or not, but I will see if I can validate your opinion." Peter gapes slightly and nods slowly once or twice, surprised that the god would dedicate any of his time to make Peter feel better about himself.

"Y-yeah, sure, okay." Thor smiles and continues to eat, and Peter follows, finishing off his dish quickly. They stay in the common room together until Tony shows up claiming he's exhausted with pretentious business people and stops when he sees the two sitting across from each other, both smiling.

"Kid," Peter turns around and looks at Tony's exasperated expression, "You've gotta stop stealing the Earth's mightiest hero's hearts."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year! I hope you guys have an amazing 2019! I'll try to get a better upload schedule for the new year and see if I can finish this thing up by the end of the school year, but I don't know how realistic that is.
> 
> Criticism and opinions are always welcome.
> 
> Official Tumblr and Instagram: spiritxwolf
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter gets sick and the Avengers take care of him.

" _May_ ," Peter whined helplessly, "you need to go to work, I'll be fine!" The brunette sighs with a small smile and shoves another glass of water in the teen's face.

"You haven't been sick in over a year; I think I have a right to worry." Her voice is teasing and soft, careful not to worsen her nephew's headache.

"I know how to open a bottle of ibuprofen, and I can fill a glass of water on my own, I promise I'll take care of myself, just go to work." May brushes back his hair with a cold hand which starkly contrasts his raging fever. He takes another sip of water and looks up at her with pleading eyes.

She sighs and stands up, Peter grins, but it quickly turns into a coughing fit only making his aunt more hesitant to go. He shakes his head and smiles once again, nodding towards the door with a clear message.

May's eyes soften with a concerned gleam before she turns and walks out the door, the sound of her rustling in the kitchen for breakfast before the door opening, "Bye, Peter! I love you! Please don't die!" Peter calls out a hoarse goodbye before the door shuts.

Peter's head flops back onto the pillow, and he curls up beneath the blanket shivering and sweating at the same time. He basks in the stillness of his home and slowly drifts off into a fitful sleep.

He wakes up three hours later to his phone buzzing insistently on his bedside table. The sun is positioned perfectly, so it shines directly into his eyes and he groans, throwing an arm over his face as his mind registers the pain his body feels.

The buzzing is starting to hurt his ears, so he blindly reaches for it, still trying to avoid the sun. He answers without looking and sits up on his elbow, "Hello?" he croaks out and winces at sandpaper feeling his throat has.

"Why do you sound like you're dying?" Peter would be surprised at the sound of Tony's voice, but he's way too tired.

"Because I am." Peter retorts quickly, falling backward and wincing as the sun hits his eyes, again. His head throbs and hunger pains are poking at his stomach, reminding him that he hasn't eaten since before May left, "Am I needed for something?" Sick-minded Peter doesn't realize how sarcastic that sounds while clear-minded Peter would slap himself for using that kind of tone with anyone, let alone Tony Stark.

"I was gonna ask if you wanted to come to the lab since Thor's not in the tower right now and your little crush has prevented you from being here in a few days, but since you obviously aren't up for it-" Peter panics and sits up, causing all the blood to rush away from his head.

"No, I totally am up for it, sorry for snapping, and I do _not_ have a crush on Thor." Tony chuckles and Peter forces himself to stand up and search for a hoodie and basketball shorts.

"What's up anyway? No offense, kid, but you sound like shit." Peter scoffs and jumps to get his mask from the top of his closet, pulling it over his mussed hair with ease.

"I have a fever, and I just woke up." He explains shortly and shuffles through his desk drawer, clasping his web-shooters on and heading towards the window, squinting against the glare of the sun.

"Wait, I thought you weren't supposed to get sick?" Tony asks as Peter slings across the alley to the next roof.

"I'm not, but my body malfunctioned so here I am." He webs himself across the road, the roaring engines hurt his ears, and he almost misses his landing destination.

"That's mildly concerning, don't you think?" Tony comments casually, and Peter would respond if he could focus his vision on where he's going.

"Uh, y-yeah. Yeah, probably." Peter stutters as he lands on the edge of a building to steady himself before leaping off and towards the tower, letting his hearing and general knowledge of New York to lead him instead of his sight.

"Kid, are you okay?" Peter's head kind of screams at him in protest as he looks down and the street and cars rush past him, only making the nausea worse.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. What? You've never had your body turn on you?" He gasps out, landing in a less than discreet corner of an alleyway and pulls his mask off, the world spinning violently around him as he heaves in a breath and tries not to pass out.

"Do I need to send Happy to come get you?" Tony asks, and Peter shakes his head, takes a few steadying breaths, pulls the mask back on and climbs the wall next to him to the roof.

"No, Happy's probably busy, and I'm almost there." He steadies himself, breathes deeply and dives, he's not far from the tower, a couple of miles at the most, if he goes against what his gut is telling him and speeds up, that is.

"Kid, do you realize that you have no self-preservation skills in the slightest?" Peter falters slightly at the blunt question and dips too low to the sidewalk, almost kicking a 40-year-old guy in the stomach and then frantically calling out apologizes over his shoulder.

"Uhh, no?" He answers hesitantly once he's steadily swinging in the air again and no longer looking behind him. Tony chuckles and Peter smiles even though the heat is kind of getting to him and he can feel sweat on his neck underneath the poorly chosen hoodie because it felt right at the time.

He gets another rush of nausea, but the tower is very close, just down the street, so he perseveres and finally makes it to the front of the Avenger's tower, he tells Tony that he's here and walks inside, finding the quickest route to a bathroom so he can take his mask off.

The bathroom is cold and empty, which he is so very grateful for, and slips his mask off. The mirror shows how shitty he looks and he shakes his head, turning the faucet on as cold as it can go and splashing his face furiously to try and cool it down further. He cups his hands and takes a sip of it because he may be an idiot sometimes, but he knows his body needs water right now.

Once his face is dried off and not as flushed, and his mask is securely hidden underneath his hoodie, he walks out. He gives the young woman behind the front counter a smile and nods to her as he steps to the elevator, ready to ask JARVIS to take him to the lab but the elevator is already moving to 63, and he glances at the ceiling in confusion.

"Hey, J? Uh, where are we going?"

"My apologies, Peter, but Sir has requested that you go to Doctor Banner's lab to get a check up on your physical health." Peter sighs and acknowledges the churning of his stomach and the foggy feeling in his head but shakes it away again.

"But I'm fine! I'm _Spiderman_ , I don't get sick!" He protests, and he knows he sounds like a whining toddler, but he wants to _work,_ not have needles stuck in his arm.

"I believe that is the reason Sir is worried, Peter." The teen wants to try and convince the AI to take him to the lab, but he knows he can't win this argument and gives up, leaning against the elevator wall and waits until the elevator jerks to a stop.

He's never even been in Doctor Banner's lab before! He doesn't know what to expect! What if he breaks something, or ruins an ongoing project, or majorly embarrasses himself? How would he even live life after doing something like that?

The elevator doors slide open, and the first thing he can comprehend is, white. The second thing is how much it looks like an actual doctor's office, sterilized tables and a couple of computers on an organized desk and Stark technology set up on said sterilized tables. The third thing he notices is Tony waiting for him with Doctor Banner, and goddammit he has the same worried look that May had before she left this morning.

Both Tony's and Bruce's eyebrows raise as the teen stops a few steps in and looks around to assess one of the few parts of the tower he hasn't been in yet. Peter looks back at the two and Tony's brows rise further, "Yeah, you're sick alright." Peter shuffles in place as he glances at Banner then at Tony.

"Y-yeah, kind of feeling like I'm dying." he links his hands in front of him and rocks back and forth as Tony takes in his appearance.

"How long have you been sick, kid?" Bruce asks, and Peter doesn't know what to do with himself, so he just keeps standing, and Tony keeps looking at him.

"Uh, since like 2 or 3 AM last night? I woke up and could barely breathe and was sweating and coughing." Bruce nods and sits down near one of his fancy technology tables and makes a gesture towards another seat near him.

"Are you scared of needles?" Peter freezes as he sits down which catches both of their attention.

"They're not my favorite thing in the world." He says and nervously spins semicircles in the rolly chair, "Do you need to draw blood?" He asks, not letting either of them comment on his fear.

"Yes, you're not gonna pass out on me, are you?" Peter shakes his head and rolls up his sleeve as Bruce cleans the needle and gets an alcohol swab to wash Peter's arm. The teen stares intensely at the needle resting on the table and flinches when Tony's hand lands on his shoulder, Peter glances up at him, and the billionaire smirks slightly.

He looks away right as the needle punctures his arm and his face scrunches in discomfort, and he repeatedly mutters under his breath, "I don't like needles, I _really_ don't like needles." Tony rubs the back of his neck until the needle is retracted and he lets out a sigh as Bruce puts a band-aid over the puncture.

"That was terrible," Peter mutters and pulls his sleeve back down as Tony and Bruce chuckle at his dramatics. Bruce taps the vial and nods towards Tony.

"I'll run this with JARVIS and see if there's something life-threatening wrong, but my guess is that it's just a cold virus that somehow got past your super-immune system." Peter nods and stands up, fiddling with the end of his sleeve, "Just drink a lot of water, and eat even if you don't have an appetite right now."

"Will do, Doc." He mocks a salute and almost stumbles directly into the table before Tony pulls him back upright.

"And rest, plenty of rest." Peter smiles clumsily and nods again.

"Right, y-yeah, right. Rest sounds good." Tony smiles and nods to Bruce as a thank you then steers the kid back towards the elevator.

"Common room, guest bedroom, or lab?" He asks, and Peter blinks away the sudden wave of dizziness as they step through the door.

"Uh," He blinks, "lab."

\----------

He's crashed on the couch before, but when you're delirious from a cold, and the blanket is somehow light enough for the heat flashes and heavy enough for the cold sweats, it gets even better. But even with that fact, he still has coughing fits that make his chest and stomach cramp, and he can't breathe through his nose, meaning he hasn't slept soundly since he laid down, which was 2 hours ago.

The next time he wakes up out of a half-awake and half-asleep state, Clint is sitting next to him, polishing his arrows with a bowl of mac n cheese in his lap. He lifts his head and squints against the lab lights, glancing around for Tony, but the brunet isn't anywhere in the lab where he can see him.

"Mr. Bar- C-Clint?" The archer looks up and smiles brightly, setting the arrows down beside him and helps Peter sit up against the back of the couch before handing the bowl to him.

"Heyo, kiddo! Feeling any better?" Clint presses the back of his hand to Peter's forehead, then cheek, then sets it on his shoulder as Peter takes a bite while the spoon is shaking, "You're still burning up, but Bruce said that it was just a nasty cold and he's working on medicine tough enough to help beat it."

Peter nods and closes his eyes at the feeling of nausea once he swallows, "Okay, uh, where's Mr. Stark?" He blinks open his eyes and forces himself to take another bite because he knows his body needs it.

"He and Pepper had to fly out to Cali for a board meeting. Me, Tasha, and Cap were set to be in charge of watching out for you." Peter shakes his head, takes another bite and looks at Clint.

"You don't have to, I know how to take care of myself when I'm sick. My aunt works in a hospital." Clint chuckles and brushes Peter's hair back.

"Yeah, well, Tony doesn't seem to think you're capable of taking care of yourself, so the Avengers are on Mommy duty." Peter scoffs and shoves a spoonful past his lips.

They sit in silence for awhile while Peter eats and Clint continues polishing his arrows. It's quiet until Peter finishes off his bowl and is sat there, twiddling his thumbs, until the boredom gets to him and he snaps.

"Do your sister's kids get sick a lot?" Clint glances up and smiles, seemingly knowing about Peter's twitchiness.

"Coop does. Lila hasn't gotten sick in a long time, but Cooper's in the doctor's office almost every month." Peter nods, picking at the edge of his blanket.

"I used to get sick a lot, too, before the whole spider bite thing. May always had to take off work to take care of me, since we couldn't afford doctor's visits that often, only when it got really bad. I can't even remember how many detentions I got for missing too many days, but it was a lot. Kind of sucks to feel like this again after not having to in a while." Clint smiles and turns so he's facing Peter, then pulls his legs up and crosses them.

"Steve's always talking about how much he hated being sick every week and having asthma, he told us that the best part of the serum was it allowed him to help his country, but the fact that it made him immune to viruses was a close second." Peter chuckles and then starts coughing into his elbow so hard his face turns red, and his eyes begin to water. The archer rubs his back soothingly until the fit dies down and Peter gasps for breath.

"Go ahead and try to go back to sleep, kid. Tones won't be back for a while." Peter nods and pulls the blanket up to his chin before curling back into the cushion.

\----------

His nap doesn't last long because a particularly severe heat flash forces him to wake up. Steve's sitting on a stool and leaning against a wall on his phone, his eyebrows scrunched, Wanda's standing in what looks like pajamas with her hair tied up. She notices him first and grins, grabbing a mug off a table and sitting down where Clint was before and handing it to him, "Hey, Peter." She greets softly, and he gives her the biggest smile he can muster, which probably isn't impressive.

The teen glances down at the mug in confusion and then back to Wanda, "What's this?" he asks, by now, Steve's standing above her with a smile on his face as well.

"Thyme tea, JARVIS recommended it for congestion and said we had what we needed to make it." Peter tilts the cup and watches the light brown liquid swirl around, he's never been one for hot beverages, except hot cocoa.

He takes a sip, and it's cooled down considerably, but warm enough to soothe the rough feeling in his throat. It's minty and has a fresh-y flavor that he guesses all types of herbal teas have.

"It's good." he takes another sip as Wanda feels his forehead the same way Clint had. She frowns, and the cool chocolate feeling that shows that she's using her magic rushes through his head, making him sigh. He looks up sharply as Wanda exclaims and the feeling suddenly disappears.

The witch is looking up at the captain with an insulted expression on her face and Steve is looking down on her with his Captain America Face of Disappointment, "Ow! What did you do that for?" She rubs at her ear uncomfortably and looks away.

"No using magic on other people without their permission, Wand, you know the rules." She scowls, and Peter laughs but looks up at Steve with his hands folded around the mug.

"It's fine, Mr. Rogers, we have an agreement that she can practice using her magic for healing if I need it." He takes another sip as she sticks her tongue out playfully towards the older Avenger, making him almost snort the tea out of his nose.

Steve rolls his eyes and sits down on the corner, turning to look at Peter as well, "Feeling better yet?" The teen shrugs.

"Not really," He lifts the mug up slightly, "This is helping though." Wanda grins proudly and pats his knee over the blanket.

"Bruce said that the spider drug is almost ready, he just has to run a few tests to make sure it doesn't make your situation any worse," Steve explains and Wanda nods.

"Do you want me to see if I can help with that fever of yours?" She asks, and Steve looks at Peter, whose eyes are flicking between the two. The subject of her using magic on other people seems to be a sore spot for both of them.

"Sure," He takes another sip of his tea then sets it on his thigh, she rests two fingers lightly on his forehead, and he instantly relaxes, the headache disappearing almost entirely and the foggy feeling clearing up somewhat. After a few seconds, the ache from sleeping awkwardly on the couch is gone, and the nausea lessens. Wanda lets up and withdraws her hand, Peter looks up and blinks a couple of times before smiling at the both of them. Steve seems slightly impressed, and Wanda smirks at him with a happy gleam in her eye.

Wanda and Steve walk out of the lab a few minutes later with soft goodbyes and smiles. Peter finishes off the mug, setting it on the floor beside the couch before settling back down against the couch, knowing he'll sleep better for at least a little while.

\----------

He wakes up a third time from a deep sleep and stretches obnoxiously, cracking his neck and sitting up, startling slightly when he sees Natasha sitting criss-cross on the floor in front of the couch. She smirks at him in a very Natasha Romanov way, and he grins brightly, even though the dizziness is back and with that, the headache and nausea. He rests a hand against his forehead and leans back again, squinting uncomfortably.

Nat stands up and grabs a glass of water from the table a few feet behind her, she walks back over to the teen and hands him two pills and the glass. He looks down at the medicine and looks back up at her, "Is this the spider drug?" She smiles softly and nods.

"Out of all the names, Steve had to give it that one." She mutters mostly to herself as he swallows the pills down with a large gulp of water. The capsules leave a pretty bad aftertaste in his mouth, so he finishes off the glass and smacks his tongue against the roof of his mouth, scrunching his eyebrows together.

"Is Mr. Stark back yet?" He asks, and the spy shakes her head and combs through his sleep-mussed hair with her hands.

"No, it'll probably be an hour before he gets back so that spider drug of yours better work or he's gonna beat our asses." She chuckles, and Peter smiles, she squints and tilts her head as she continues to fix his hair and he glances up at her.

"The purple's fading, we should go get it re-dyed." Peter grins and jerks his head up slightly.

"Can I go pink this time?" He exclaims excitedly, and Natasha ruffles his hair, messing it up once again at that idea. He giggles like he's three and ducks away, but she's persistent and just reaches farther to reach his sides. The teen squeaks and almost jumps out of his own skin as he laughs, scrambling to the far end of the couch to get away from her poking fingers.

She lays on her side and leans on her elbow as his laughter dies down and his face returns to its normal shade, she's smiling bigger than he's ever seen before. He coughs into his elbow once and laughs shortly one more time, pulling his knees up to his chin to ensure the safety of his ticklish sides.

They sit in silence for a while until Natasha stands up impulsively and takes a few steps away from the couch then turns towards Peter again. He's looking up at her with his lost puppy expression, and she holds out her hand as an invitation for him to stand up. He stands hesitantly and takes a small step forward.

"Come on, Parker. Let's see how coordinated those spider-powers of yours really make you." He raises his eyebrows in shock.

"What?" He asks, stunned that she wants to train while he's practically dying.

"Not training," She rolls her eyes, "Dancing. Ballerina, remember?" She states like it's the obvious and it kind of is, but he's still glancing between the couch, floor, and her.

"JARVIS play us something fun, danceable." She requests, and the AI doesn't hesitate to deliver.

Whitney Houston's, _I Wanna Dance With Somebody_ starts playing through the lab and Peter lights up, practically prancing over to Natasha because he's a little less suspicious now.

He bows dramatically and holds out his hand playfully, Natasha grins and takes it fast enough to spin him around. He laughs as they swing each other around the lab, surprisingly not knocking anything over as they go, even though there are a few close calls.

Their dance styles change drastically through the one song, going from swing to tango in 5 seconds flat. They probably go through an entire playlist, consisting of Taylor Swift, Demi Lovato, Fall Out Boy, Paramore, One Direction and so many more.

Natasha's in the lead most of the time since he knows absolutely nothing about dancing, but he's able to keep up well enough. He dips her, and she spins him, and they dance in the middle of the lab a few feet apart from each other until they meet up again to waltz across the tile floors, keeping a beat that never matches the song.

Finally, JARVIS lets the last song fade out, he tells them in response to their protests that he thinks it's in their best interest because the other Avengers have been watching them from the doorway for the past 15 minutes and neither of them had noticed.

They're both red-faced and sweating, Peter's chest aches a bit from exertion, but the medicine has worked it's magic, and he feels ten times better.

Steve's leaning against the door, smirking at Natasha who can't seem to stop grinning even when she tries, Tony's staring with a gaping mouth because he's never seen this woman act like that in the 8 years that he's known her. Everyone else is smiling like a mad man, including Bucky, Sam, and Thor.

Peter falls back on to the couch and breathes heavily, still smiling and laughing every few seconds. Natasha sits beside him, and the Avengers finally break and start asking questions, except Tony because he's still standing, gaping in shock.

Peter heads home an hour later, feeling healthy and happy, so happy in fact that his eyes start watering because he couldn't keep this much joy in his tiny spider-boy body even if he tried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally almost started crying at the end because the dance scene was the cutest thing I've ever written
> 
> Criticism and opinions are always welcome.
> 
> Official Tumblr and Instagram: spiritxwolf
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter investigates the source of a storm.

The sound of thunder makes the entire room shake, Peter flinches once again and turns the page of his book, even though he hadn't finished reading the previous one. The sudden onslaught of rain caught him off guard, caught everyone off guard really since there had been no clouds in sight all week. The sudden ringing of his spidey-sense had also made him incredibly anxious because rain isn't supposed to mean danger, which suggested something else was going on.

The knock on his door makes his heart jump, and he rips his gaze away from the window where the bullets of rain are pounding against the glass. "Yeah?" He has to call out over the noise, and May peaks her head into the room, finding his eyes immediately.

"Hey, kiddo. Wanted to see how you were doing, you haven't been outside your room for a few hours." Her brow creases in standard worried May fashion, and he smiles.

"I'm okay," He lifts the book to show her, "I've been reading this, I guess time just got away from me." She smiles as well and nods.

"Okay, well I'm pulling another shift at the hospital, one of the nurses got sick, and I was the only one who volunteered to fill in for her." Peter glances out his window at the slick, busy roads, and then his eyes flit back to her, she clearly understands what he's thinking based on her softened expression. "I'll be fine, I promise."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." He nods, mostly to comfort himself, then stands up to hug her goodbye.

The sound of his empty home with the only sound being pelting rain doesn't calm his nerves down. In fact, it makes it worse because the sound of thunder is getting louder and lightning is flashing across the sky with barely any time between strikes. Focusing is beyond his capability right now, so he stands up and sets the book on his desk as he makes his way over to the window. His thumbnail is caught between his teeth as he stares up at the darkened sky, which seems to get darker with each passing minute.

The thing that's bothering him the most is that he can't just go out as Spiderman in a storm on a whim, but the increasing tingle of danger at the base of his neck is slowly convincing him otherwise. He's been zoning out while staring out of his window, gnawing away at his thumb, so when the insanely bright flash of light zaps up from some building a few miles away, he's only going on his instincts.

"Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, not doing this today." He mutters to himself, grabbing his suit from it's hiding place and throwing it on in a rush, his web shooters are already clasped on his wrist, and it only takes him a few seconds to slip the mask on.

He walks back over to the window, looks down at the street again and sighs, "I'm going to ruin the carpet." He says to himself then throws the window open and is immediately met with rain and powerful wind; he slams the window closed behind him and climbs to the roof.

"Peter, if I may ask, what are you doing?" Karen's voice speaks clearly into his ear, and he huffs, the uncomfortable sticking of his suit doesn't distract him as much as the intense feeling of fear that his spidey-sense is giving him.

"Something's off, Karen. Can you scan the surrounding area for unusual signals? Something that could alter the weather or atmosphere?" He requests, and he can hear the beeping of her working.

"There seems to be odd activity coming from a construction site a few miles northeast of you." She informs, and Peter squints to try and see through the steadily increasing downpour.

"Can you tell me what kind of activity?" He asks, and Karen seems to falter for a second.

"I'm sorry, Peter, I can't seem to get a grasp on what it is or what's causing it. But I do not recommend going out in these conditions." She cautions. The teen takes a deep breath and dives off the building in the direction of where he saw the lightning.

It only takes a few minutes before Karen alerts him that Tony is trying to call him and he seriously debates on ignoring it, but that'll just make the billionaire annoyed. He's lucky the iron man suit isn't already dragging him back the direction he came from.

He tells her to patch him through, and Tony doesn't bother wasting any time, " _Just what in the hell do you think you're doing?_ " Peter lands on the edge of a bank so he can think of an excuse without worrying about faceplanting into a skyscraper.

"Uh, patrolling?" he squeaks out and mentally facepalms, May has always said he was a lousy liar.

" _Uh huh, sure, when it's pouring down rain?_ " He questions disbelievingly, and Peter hangs his head, watching the water pound the street below.

"Yes?"

" _You know what, that's a great idea! Do you mind if I join you on your little patrol?_ " Peter almost falls off the ledge but manages to scramble backward thanks to his sticky fingertips.

"N-no, I think I'll be fine." Another insanely large and bright lightning strike comes from what he assumes is the construction area Karen told him about and makes him flinch.

" _Kid, stop playing games. What are you doing?_ " The clouds darken even further as Tony speaks, and as Peter tries to think of an excuse, the line goes dead. Karen's voice is garbled in his ear as she tries to explain, but he can't decipher her words, he only picks up a few before she too is cut off. Headlights start to blink off, quickly followed by windows in apartment buildings, and he can hear the screeching of cars stopping below. He glances up and squints through the downpour towards the general direction of the construction site, but without the guiding lights of New York, it's impossible to see.

The streets are dark with only phone flashlights illuminating the surrounding areas. No one seems to be hurt, just confused and scared and looking to Spiderman for help, but he can only shrug his shoulders and stutter out a nonsense answer that he hopes they can settle for

Once he's checked the roads for the injured and only has to help one woman to an emergency clinic that is stuck in the same conditions as the outside world does he head northeast. People are clamoring in alleys for protection, but it doesn't do much against the heavy downpour and steadily decreasing temperature.

Another lightning strike illuminates the city once again, and a few seconds later, multiple hits come from different areas of the sky, almost in a formation. Peter jumps to a roof as they strike one after another in a repeating pattern, he watches as the black clouds swirl around each other and deafening thunder crashes against his ears, "That doesn't seem good." he mutters to himself.

He crawls halfway down the building to check on the very frightened groups of people before jumping at making his way towards the construction site once again, "Thor, please just tell me you're having a bad dream." He says to himself and swings low to the ground, not taking the chance of getting struck.

Now that he has the continuous bolts of lightning to light up New York, he can finally see where he's going and prides himself on still heading in the right direction.

"Okay, Karen. Now would be a perfect time for you to come back online." He lands a few buildings away from where the odd activity that his AI had reported was coming from and watches what he can. He taps the side of his mask in a futile attempt to get anything, but it comes up empty as suspected.

"Guess we're doing this to old fashioned way, then." He jumps to the next building over and crawls along the wall sideways, carefully making his way towards the danger zone.

A lightning bolt shoots up once again from the construction site, and what he sees now is what seems like an abandoned warehouse of some kind, but then it doesn't go away, it stays beaming up into the sky like some sort of beacon. He flinches and flattens himself against the wall as thunder booms ahead, sounding more like an explosion. He has to be less than 100 yards away now, and the thought makes his skin crawl with anxiety, but he has to keep going, no point in turning back now.

When he sees the actual source, it makes him shrink back and hide behind the corner, he exhales heavily and peeks at the building again. The metal is charred, and it looks like it's not going to stay up much longer, his thought is proven when a powerful gust of wind blows past, and he can hear the creaking of the support beams.

"Okay, okay. This is fine, I'm good. You're good, Parker." He looks around the corner again, flinches, then jumps to the ground, relying on his stickiness to keep him upright on the slick concrete.

"Come on, Karen. I kind of need you right now." He whispers to himself and watches the warehouse sway. The lightning is growing brighter, and the sky is getting darker, and he has no idea what's happening.

He mutters the word _plan_ underneath his breath repeatedly, but his mind blanks because suddenly ice pellets are raining down on him and it's summer. "Come on, Parker. You and Tony have gone over strategies before, what do you need to do?" He curses at himself angrily and flexes his hand anxiously.

The ice stings against his skin and he grits his teeth, zoning in on the beacon of lightning, "Screw it, there is no plan for this." He slides along the buildings and then sprints, faster than he ever has in gym and puts all the momentum into one kick to the door which flys open at the force. The building moans in protest, and he takes in his surroundings as quickly as possible before swinging up to the ceiling.

Ice sweeps into the building, making it even harder to focus on all the chaos going on around him. The complex tank sitting in the back corner catches his attention first, it's obviously the source of the lightning, and of all the weather going on and it's clearly of importance. The person guarding it with their life is blocking him from seeing the layout, they seem panicked and angry, and all their attention is on him. What he's not expecting? Ant-man and the Wasp shrinking in and out of his sight, throwing kicks and punches where they can, and from what he can tell, they are also in a state of panic.

_Strategy_ once again bounces around his mind as he swings down and lands firmly on the hot concrete. Throw them off. "Woah, am I in a Scooby-Doo episode?" he comments and the person snarls and lunges. He dives, catching the eye of Hope as she goes back to normal size, before she can say anything the machine rumbles and his spidey sense rings loudly and he ducks and grabs her on instinct, slinging across the warehouse.

A loud sound comes from behind him, and he drops to the ground, setting Hope down and yelling a sorry over the sound of thunder and ice hitting the ground. She narrows her eyes in suspicion, but both of them know not to question anything and turn around to assess the damage. The beacon is still shining but weaker, the machine seems to be malfunctioning, and the person is cursing loudly and batting Scott away as he tries to get them away from it.

Peter doesn't think, he just swings and kicks them away from it, slamming them into the charred wall. They twitch, and suddenly he feels like sparks are landing on his leg and jumps back, hissing in pain. The person takes advantage and runs past him, but they're too late, Scott already has a panel off of the machine and is working frantically, ripping wires out and occasionally shocking himself, Hope guards him and punches the person's nose then kicks their legs out from underneath them. Peter thinks fast and webs every inch of the person to the floor.

He looks at Hope who is already trying to contact someone, then he runs to help an in distress Scott. The wires aren't complicated, simple really, and he uses his knowledge of mechanics to rip the correct circuits out. After a shocked finger, a confused look from Scott, and a rush of adrenaline and anxiety, the rumbling machine comes to a stop, and the lightning zaps out of existence.

The ice pellets fizzle back to rain which turns to a light drizzle then nothing. Clouds clear faster than he can process and the temperature noticeably rises in 30 seconds. After a moment of all three breathing heavily, Karen crackles back to life and warns Peter that Tony is already tracking him and on his way. He whispers a quiet, "Shit," and runs out, vaulting to the closest building's roof and sits on the ledge, knowing better than to run from Tony.

A minute passes and Hope and Scott walk out of the building just in time to have Ironman land in front of them. He steps out of the suit and nods, looks like he's saying some sort of apology, probably for not being there to help. Scott's mouth moves in a reply, and Tony's face hardens, Hope jumps in then, and his clenched jaw relaxes a little. After a few more words thrown around between the three, the two bug-themed heroes walk away towards a van parked on the street. Peter huffs when Tony doesn't move to go find him, just stands there with his chin lifted and arms crossed.

He crawls as slowly as possible down the side of the building, stepping to the ground with light feet and turning around. Tony's still looking straight ahead, and he shuffles a few steps closer, "Mr. Stark I'm-" He begins, and Tony turns his head finally.

"Sorry?" Peter clamps his mouth shut and nods tensely, Tony turns, so he's facing Peter directly, they're still a few strides away from each other. "What happened to not helping Scott and Hope because you're too inexperienced? Do you know how dangerous running into a situation like that with _no idea_ of what's happening? I shouldn't have to worry about telling May that her nephew was actually Spiderman and is now dead because he doesn't have any self-preservation skills in the slightest." His voice is sharp and clipped in anger and annoyance. Peter flinches, takes a step back, and looks down in shame.

"I didn't know it was Scott and Hope's mission.." He says quietly and hears the billionaire scoff in reply. He glances up, and Tony is gripping his left wrist so hard that his knuckles are turning white and he feels regret and worry flood him.

"That just makes it worse." Tony snaps back in return and Peter is scratching at the edge of his web-shooters nervously, toeing at the concrete when the silence grows. "What happened to your leg?" Tony breaks it with the question, and Peter looks down, noticing the slightly blackened spandex, remembering the ember-like feeling scorching his skin.

"Oh, uh, I was, um, electrocuted?"

"I'm sorry? What was that? Did you say _electrocuted_?" He looks up at Tony's wide eyes and opens his mouth, shrinking back under his gaze. It's intimidating, to say the least, he has a lot to lose and Tony could take it away with the snap of his fingers.

"Yeah, the.. person, uh, shocked me." He explains around the cotton ball feeling in his mouth, his chest feels tight with anxiety, and his hands are shaking uncontrollably.

"Shocked meaning what? Tazed? Like Thor?" Peter grimaces beneath the mask at his tone, wanting to run away more than ever now.

"Like Thor, just on a smaller scale." Tony sighs, rubs the bridge of his nose in an exhausted way which makes the teen feel that much more guilty.

"Mr. Stark it's okay, really, I'm fine, no one's hurt. And we stopped them! I'm not dead or in a hospital, neither is Scott or Hope, the machine thing is off, and you can break it apart and see what it is! Or we can give it to SHIELD, and they can do whatever SHIELD does with things like that!" Peter's eyes are wide in panic, his breathing is heavier due to the increasing feeling of anxiety now that the adrenaline is wearing off.

Tony's watching him carefully, "It doesn't matter that you're not-" he sighs again, rubs a hand over his face, "That you're not _dead_ , you could've been. And then who has to take the blame for that? Scott and Hope? Me? Because a kid was fighting a battle that wasn't supposed to have kids in it? You can stop a train with your bare hands, but you can't fight a war when you don't think."

Peter straightens up further, feels an ache in his injured leg and resists the urge to rub the sore muscles of his calf, "Yes sir." Tony rolls his eyes at the formality and grabs Peter's shoulder.

"Stop with the sirs' kid, if you wanna be an Avenger you need to realize that we're a team, we don't have ranks." Peter nods a little too quickly which finally draws a smile out of Tony's stressed demeanor, "Come on, we need to get that leg checked out by Banner."

"O-okay, well, you can start... flying that direction, I need to check on May." Peter takes a step back, and Tony nods once then steps into the suit, giving Peter a short salute before lifting off into the air.

Karen dials May for him, and it takes a few rings before she picks up, _"Peter? Oh my God, are you okay? I just saw that it was the entire city, not just the hospital_." Peter leans his head against the brick wall and breathes in.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm okay, I was just.." He exhales, and he can practically feel May's worry through the phone, "Just scared, that's all."

\---------

Bruce Banner's lab is just as white as the last time he was in here a week ago, it's quieter this time though because Tony was dragged away by Pepper as soon as the pair stepped through the doors.

JARVIS scans Peter's body for any other injuries and other than a couple of bruises, the leg is the only part, and as he suspected, it's not that big of a deal, and his healing factor is already taking care of it.

"You scared Tones again," Bruce says out of the blue as he's wrapping Peter's leg, the teen looks down in shame.

"Yeah." He can't think of a response, so he just watches the white bandage wrap around his leg distantly. He feels like an idiot, but he really can't think of what else he could've done. Turn away? How could that even be an option when he knows that there was an entire city at stake if he didn't do anything?

"I don't think I've ever seen Thor so confused when he couldn't call off the rain, do you know what caused it?" Peter shrugs and thinks back to the person's lab coat and the mint condition of that machine.

"Evil scientist is what it seemed like." Bruce chuckles and Peter smiles at that. "I don't know, the entire situation was wacky. There was a lot going on when I swung in." The avenger nods in understanding as he cuts off the end of the bandage and ties it securely.

"Now," He stands up and looks at Peter with a playfully arched eyebrow, "I don't wanna see you in my lab for another injury for at least 2 weeks." Peter grins at him as he rests on the leg to test it out, it doesn't hurt.

"I'll see what I can do." Dr. Banner waves him off, and he scampers back to the elevator, waving at Bruce as the doors close.

"Where would you like to go, Peter?" JARVIS asks, polite and direct as he always is. Peter thinks, glances at the list of names of floors, basement catches his eye first, he hasn't seen Loki since he talked to Thor. Wanda's level also interests him, the last time he spoke to her directly was when he was delirious with a cold. He would love to go to the balcony, but that's Thor's floor, and he doesn't want to be caught in that situation again. Eventually, his eyes drift back down to the basement, and he nods to himself.

"Basement, JARVIS, thanks." The elevator rolls downwards, and he scratches at the edge of the bandage, he doesn't even see the point of it, his leg will be completely healed in a few hours at the most.

He takes advantage of the long ride down to run his hands through his still damp hair, his roots are growing out, and he needs to ask Natasha or Clint to take him back to SHIELD for a re-dying session and maybe a haircut. He thinks about dying his hair pink just to mess with Tony and chuckles to himself at the thought.

The elevator rolls to a stop and the doors split open, revealing the dark lower floors, he still has to go down a flight of stairs to get to Loki's level though. He sighs at the thought of bringing the idea of giving the trickster his own floor up again to Tony, he doesn't like arguing with his boss.

He gets one weird look from a scientist, but she doesn't say anything, so he doesn't either and continues down the corridor. The camera's around the god's door seem unnecessary, and it irks him that Tony had to do that, not that he doesn't understand the billionaire's paranoia.

He notices the new bookshelf, it's half empty, and the books are thin and don't seem interesting, but it's there. Loki is sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall, reading one of the said books. Peter cocks his head at the god's chosen position, but shrugs it off, he can do whatever he wants. He lifts one hand and knocks lightly, not wanting to startle him too bad like the last few times he's been down here.

Loki's head still shoots up at the sound, and Peter takes that as an invitation to walk in, so he does just that. Once Loki sees the somewhat familiar head of purple pop through the door he relaxes once again against the wall. Peter steps into the space and glances around, it's still bland and gray, _depressing_.

Peter crosses a short distance to the table and sits down cross-legged in a chair, Loki glances up at him and raises a brow at Peter's uncomfortable looking choice of how to sit. Peter just shrugs, and that's when the trickster sets the book down.

"Did you want something?" His voice is as sharp as ever, but somehow not like how Tony's was when he was lecturing Peter earlier. Tony's was razor-sharp, meant to get a point across. Loki's is like thorns, just as sharp but not meant to harm or catch attention, more like he's trying to hide something. Protect something, even.

"Not really." Peter shrugs, and Loki tilts his head to the side but almost in a sarcastic way.

"What? You and Stark didn't get into another argument?" And there's the sarcasm. Peter shakes his head and folds his lips together to keep back a remark when the god dog ears his page. "Then what is it? A question? Would you like me to read you a story?" Loki bites out a little more harsher than usual, and Peter flinches back slightly, the trickster withdraws a little when he notices but keeps his impatience obvious.

"I-I don't know, I just haven't, uh, talked to you recently." Loki relaxes when he finally gets his answer, and Peter guesses that he doesn't like being kept in the dark about things.

"Well, I hope you realize that I am not the one that's going to be starting the talking." Peter smiles and a corner of the trickster's mouth pops up in a satisfied way.

"Fine, then. I have a question." He leans forward out of curiosity, and Loki slowly raises an eyebrow, cautious of Peter's proclamation. "Your magic. What does it- what can you do?"

The god straightens up and folds his hands in his lap, running his thumb over each nail, the action makes him look shy, insecure. "A lot of things." He responds shortly, and Peter makes a noise of protest when he figures out that he isn't going to say anymore.

"Okay, yeah, I got that part, but what can it _do?_ Can you make trees just grow? I know Thor can make it rain or stop raining, can you do that too? What about animals? Can you talk to them, like a Disney princess? What about t-" Loki holds his hand up, and Peter clamps his mouth shut, his face turning red once he realizes that he was talking really fast.

"I'm best at illusions, so technically I could create rain, but it wouldn't be real, you would just perceive it as real." Peter's face brightens at the mention of that and a smile that nearly splits his face in half appears.

"Can you show me?" Loki looks towards the two-way mirror then towards the corners of his room before glancing back at Peter.

"Technically, I'm not allowed to use my magic while on Midgard." He mutters something else underneath his breath after saying that, but Peter doesn't ask what it was.

"Doesn't matter, JARVIS won't show Mr. Stark any of the footage that includes me in here." Loki looks up at the ceiling and Peter can almost hear the AI's voice confirming his statement.

The god doesn't bother moving or making a sound, there's just suddenly a little raincloud pouring water onto the concrete floor, it shimmers green around the edges for a second before solidifying completely. Peter stares in awe and stands up, walking over with a giddy step and reaches his hand out to pass through the rain, the cloud shimmers once again, and he looks at Loki with a happy gleam in his eye. The trickster rolls a shining ball of green over his hands before flicking it at the cloud, when it hits, there's a mini lightning strike that lights Peter's face up. He smiles, and Loki smirks before waving his hand once, and the illusion disappears.

"Can you make any kind of illusion? What about people? Can you just make people?" Peter asks, he resembles an excited puppy, bouncing on his toes as Loki sits against the wall calmly.

"I can make myself and others appear as if they were different people, yes. As for making people appear, kind of, I can make duplicates of myself, but it's harder to do that with other individuals." Peter's expression goes from excited to ecstatic at this news.

"Can you change my hair to pink? I wanna see how I look!" He's beaming at the god and how could anyone say no to Peter _little ray of sunshine_ Parker? Loki waves his hand once again, and the teen doesn't feel any different until he looks in the mirror and sees his hair is now a bubble gum pink.

"Oh my god! That's _amazing!_ " He runs his hands through it repeatedly, and it shimmers, but he can still clearly see it, "I'm definitely changing it to this."

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is so bad, but whatever y'know.
> 
> Criticism and opinions are always welcome.
> 
> official Tumblr and Instagram: spiritxwolf
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter has a bad day.

It was a bad day before it was a bad night, but now it's a bad night and bad nights are always worse than bad days. It's common knowledge that anyone would take a bad day over a bad night. Night is supposed to mean sleeping and soft pillows and contentment, and he has none of that right now. What he has instead is the taunting view of a memory foam mattress, the twinkling lights of New York out his window, and anxiety slithering through his intestines like some kind of tapeworm.

His bad day started at 8:42 AM because his phone chimed on his bedside table, waking him up immediately because, despite popular belief, super hearing _sucks_. What made it worse was that the notification wasn't from one of his friends announcing good news like if Ned was coming home early from his 2 1/2 month family vacation to Austria, or MJ announcing that she had won that essay contest she entered back in March. Instead, he got the notification that fucking _Flash_ of all people had tagged him on twitter, reminiscing on an embarrassing thing he had done back in 8th grade. What made it better was the tweet was liked and retweeted by practically _everyone_ that went to Midtown.

After putting his phone on do not disturb and turning it off for good measure, he made his way to the kitchen and found a note on the fridge door reading, 'Working a late shift at the hosp. Got a date right after. You have my permission to stay over at stark's if you want to. eat something please. xoxo larb you, May.' And even with her note of eat something, he opened the fridge only to find a sad loaf of bread, a half-empty jar of expired mayonnaise, and shelves full of sauces.

He found a twenty planted on the counter with a sticky note labeled 'pizza only' and dreaded having to pick his phone up and see all the '{insert lame username} liked a tweet you were tagged in!' notifications that were inevitably going to be there. But he was a spider teen with enhanced metabolism that couldn't survive on just burnt toast. So, he trudged back to his room like a sad hitchhiker walking up a snow-covered hill with their little frozen thumb stuck in the air and waited for the white loading screen on his phone to flash away.

He was already in a bad mood from all the events that have come to be in the last 15 minutes at this point, and it didn't help when the pizza guy started flirting with him without even knowing his name. Now, Peter Parker is a nice person and would never snap at someone who's just trying to do their job like some kind of baby boomer, but this asshole who had probably been arrested for underage drinking was getting on his nerves. He ordered a large meat lovers and gave his name which he didn't want to do because this guy was going to use it against him.

After dealing with the asshole, who's name was Dan, Peter ate all of his pizza and got interrupted by his phone ringing every few slices. He ignored it every single time and instead focused on Spongebob. That was the only good part of the day. Pizza and Spongebob.

After his meal, he made his way back to his room to get ready for patrol, the spandex still hadn't dried all the way since he had to cram it in the back of his closet, leaving no space for any kind of drying. Pulling it on was difficult and involved a lot of tripping and falling. Once it was on, it was cold and stuck to his skin in that annoying way that damp spandex does. Then, once he's balanced precariously on the edge of the windowsill, right about to jump off and stop bad guys, Karen's voice announces (loudly) in his ear that Tony is calling, making him almost fall off of said windowsill.

He scrambles back into place and answers, stuttering out some sort of greeting as he tries to breathe normally again, "H-hey, Mr. Stark."

Tony seems to realize that he called at a wrong time based on the way that he chuckles before continuing on with the question he wanted to ask, " _Hey, Pete. Are you free at the moment, because I have a rad experimental upgrade for you to try out at the tower._ " Peter blinks and starts laughing.

"No offense, Mr. Stark, but did you seriously just say the word rad? It's 2019!" He hears the billionaire snort in amusement through his own fit of giggles but eventually calms down enough to answer the question that was asked in the first place. "And, I don't know about coming over to the tower, I'm not really feeling up to it today." He says it a lot quieter than his previous statement, and he can tell by the silence on the opposite line that Tony is trying to figure out what it means that his mentee doesn't want to come over.

" _Are you okay? You're not sick again are you?_ " Peter looks out over the New York City skyline and chews at the inside of his cheek before answering.

"No, I feel fine, just.." He tries to find the words to describe the feeling in his chest, but they're not coming to mind at the moment, "Just not feeling up to it, that's all."

" _Okay, kid. It's alright. Just call me back when you are, and you can swing by the tower, get some rest, go on patrol, whatever you need._ " Peter smiles at the change in attitude, he's glad that Tony understands but still feels terrible about turning the billionaire down.

"Thanks, Mr. Stark." He mumbles back quietly and the call disconnects. He continues to stare out at the skyline before finally climbing up to the roof, he looks around for a second, then decides to take a different route than usual.

The interaction between him and Tony leads to a very guilt-laden patrol, and the thugs can obviously tell since they've been making fun of him for not using his usual strategy of throwing them off with quips. By the time he makes it back to his home, it's 10 PM, and he's exhausted. He had entirely forgotten about May's note telling him that she was working late, so he gets himself worked up about the lack of lights in the windows until he's searching through the rooms and finally sees the note of the fridge again. He sighs and turns around to go back to his room, he's so tired already, and his back, legs, and head are aching, and he wants to sleep, but he hates being alone.

So, he calls Tony back, "Hey, Mr. Stark. I know it's late, but I forgot to mention to you this morning that May's working the late shift and has a date and she gave me permission to spend the night at the tower if you were okay with it. So, can I?" He's rambling, and he seriously has to work on not doing that anymore when he's nervous.

He can hear Tony's smirk through the phone when the billionaire answers, " _Of course, kid. Are you feeling better?_ " Peter dumps his backpack of all the textbooks he never got around to getting rid of and shoves a shirt and jeans inside of it before changing out of his Spiderman costume and into pajamas.

"Uh, not really, I don't know what's going on, I'm just-" He sighs, thinks about everything that happened throughout the day, and swings the backpack over his shoulder, "tired. I guess." He pulls on the mask and closes the window behind him before crawling down to the alleyway. He wants to walk. Think a little bit, maybe.

" _Okay, kiddo_." Tony replies and Peter smiles under the mask, albeit, it's a small one.

"I'm not a kid, I'm almost 18." He reminds the billionaire playfully, just trying to distract himself.

" _Ugh, don't remind me._ " The call disconnects and Peter's smile widens just a bit more.

\----------

He agreed to watch one movie with Tony and Thor, which he regrets greatly because now Tony knows just how often he blushes when in the presence of the god. He went back up to his guest bedroom at 11:30 and never fell asleep. It's 3 AM now, and he's been staring at the ceiling for two hours. He's tried every tactic he knows, he had Jarvis play music, he tried breathing rhythmically for 30 minutes, he drank water, he shut his thoughts off. Nothing worked.

Finally, he stands up and paces the room for another five minutes. The memory foam mattress taunts him and anxiety crawls up his spine and into his mind, he looks out the window to the stars for comfort, and it doesn't work. Finally, he just decides to walk out the door. He doesn't know how long he wanders the halls of the towers, he distracts himself with the sounds of his footsteps until he finally ends up at his training room. He wonders how effective tiring himself out will be by beating up robots, but it's worth a try at this point. So, he does just that. He kicks and punches and flips until he's too exhausted to go on and he collapses along with the heaps of vibranium surrounding him. Only then does he realize that tears are slowly tracking their way down his face and he wipes them away, too tired to process that he's crying.

He lays on the floor, tempted just to fall asleep there until Jarvis speaks, "Mr. Parker, are you okay?" Peter sighs heavily and doesn't answer, he feels like it would take too much energy to move his mouth. He stands up and sways for a few seconds before walking out, leaving the collapsed robots where they are.

The Common Room isn't empty like he expects when he walks in and he has to blink multiple times and take a step back to figure out who's watching TV. The person, Clint, he realizes, stands up as soon as he sees him and smiles before taking in the teen's current state. Peter doesn't fully understand how much of a mess he must look right now until another person is in the same room as him.

"H-h-hey, Clint, uh, I haven't seen you in, uh.. awhile." He blinks and puts a hand to his head as throbbing pain echoes through his skull.

"Yeah, kid. I've been away for a couple weeks." He sounds confused, and Peter guesses that he has the right to since a very terrible looking teenager just walked into the kitchen at 4? 5 AM?

"Pete, you okay?" Clint asks, and Peter shrugs, he can feel tears burn at the back of his eyes and he doesn't understand why. He presses the heels of his palms into his eyes and sighs. "Okay. Come on, bud." Peter feels a hand on his shoulder, and he releases the pressure on his eyes and blinks away the stars. He lets Clint guide him over to the couch and sit him down.

He closes his eyes and feels the cushion next to him dip, he instinctively leans towards it, and his temple meets Clint's shoulder. "What're we watching?" He mutters and feels the archer's hand on his hair, gently combing through the messy strands.

"I have no idea, bud." It's quiet for a few moments, other than the TV, until Peter turns his head and rests his forehead against Clint's chest and lets himself cry. His chest hurts, and he doesn't know why, he doesn't know _why_ he feels like this, but he does. Clint turns towards him and wraps his arms around the teen's shoulders, Peter sucks in a broken breath and returns the hug.

After 10 minutes of hugging and crying, he falls asleep with his head in Clint's lap.

\----------

He wakes up to sunlight hitting his eyes directly and blinks rapidly before turning over, he realizes a few moments later that he's on a bed again and he thinks to himself for a second that maybe last night was all a dream. Once he opens his eyes again, he confirms that it wasn't because he's not in his room, but in a room he recognizes as Tony's.

He sits up, and he feels so emotionally drained that he just wants to lay back down and fall into a coma. The clock on the bedside table says that it's 2 PM and he blinks at that. He did kind of exhaust himself last night. He sits still for a while and thinks, he should apologize to Clint and probably Tony because he was probably the one that carried him to his room.

He flinches harshly when the door opens and looks away quickly when he sees a familiar billionaire walk in. A tray slides into his vision stacked high with perfectly fluffy pancakes, two sunny-side-up eggs, a pile of crispy bacon, two pieces of buttered toast, and a tall glass of orange juice. He looks up and sees Tony smirking, it's matched with a worried look in his eyes which makes Peter frown.

He looks back down again and takes a bite out of the piece of toast, "I'm sorry." He mumbles past the mouthful.

"Stop apologizing, kid." The billionaire ruffles Peter's hair and sits next to him on the bed.

"I'm almost 18." He picks up his fork and takes a bite out of the syrup soaked pancake stack and shoves it past his lips before taking a sip of orange juice.

"Stop reminding me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been a month and I am sorry.
> 
> Official Instagram and Tumblr: spiritxwolf
> 
> Criticism and opinions are always welcome.
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki and Peter go on an adventure and Wanda and Peter have a bonding moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: implied attempted sexual assault

It's a stupid idea. It's _such_ a stupid idea. He can't even remember who's idea it was (it was his). At least it's a nice day; if you're going to sneak a well-known psychotic trickster god out of a high-security cell and then out of a high-security tower, you have to make sure it's a nice day, right?

Loki doesn't seem to mind being out in the open air of one of the busiest cities in America. The city that he tried to _take over_ seven years ago. He sees the god glance at him out of the corner of his eye. They're just walking among the crowds on the sidewalks, and Peter should know better than to suspect that anyone would notice anything when everyone in New York is always too busy with themselves.

"Stop looking around like Stark is going to drop out of the sky and carry you to the gates of Helheim himself," Loki says sarcastically and rolls his eyes and Peter's glare.

"He might." The teen grumbles under his breath, and Loki smirks. Peter glares at him again.

"What do you advise we do, then?" The god looks around and up at the buildings; eyes squinted against the reflections of the sun on windows. Peter stuffs his hands in his pockets and thinks, what could a mythical demigod find interesting in New York City?

"Chinatown is pretty cool, the food is good, and I like comparing their culture to mine. But some people don't like that sort of thing, so we can try and find something else if it's not your style." The trickster looks like he's considering it and then nods.

"It sounds interesting; how far is it to walk?" Peter looks around, it's close to 1 so people are leaving their lunch break to go back to work, the crowds aren't too terrible, and they'll get thinner in the next hour before they get worse.

"Ten? Fifteen minutes? Not long." Peter answers and walks off in the direction of the neighborhood.

Peter forces Loki to at least take a bite of the 'distasteful Midgardian food,' and he ends up liking it, as the teen suspected. He also forces the god to buy some cheap sunglasses he spotted inside of a store, and he has to laugh at his stoic expression matched with the dark lens, the trickster god looks like an absolute douchebag

After a couple of hours, Peter leads Loki to an abandoned rooftop that he used to climb up to before he had spidey powers. They sit on the ledge, Loki a little farther back then the teen, and eat their classic New York hot dogs. The god asks questions about the city, earth, and humans that most would find offensive but Peter shrugs it off and answers.

When there's a lull in the q&a, Peter thinks while looking down at the bustling sidewalks, how the hell is he going to get back into the tower?

"I can get us back in." Loki pipes up from behind him, and Peter turns to look at him with scrunched brows.

"Did you read my mind?" Loki smirks and rolls his eyes, something he does quite often when he's amused, Peter has discovered.

"No, you think out loud." Peter blushes faintly and turns away again.

"Okay, then problem solved." He takes another bite out of his hotdog and Loki keeps asking semi-offensive questions. Peter still can't get over the feeling that Tony is going to show up and he's going to get his pre-avenger internship taken away.

"And the excessive amount of different animals? Why do humans need so many different variations of a wolf?" Peter chews and looks up at the sky while Loki talks.

"What you don't have teacup poodles on Asgard?" Peter jokes around the mouthful and hears Loki scoff before his phone rings, and he almost falls off the edge. Loki grabs the back of his shirt, and he ends up alive, but more importantly, his hotdog doesn't end up on the concrete below. He gives the god a quick, awkward half smile and picks up his phone.

"I'm gonna take a guess and say that you're on one of your four-hour-long walks?" He smiles brightly when he hears May's voice.

"You know me so well." He chides back and hears his aunt huff in amusement.

"You left your watch at Stark's tower; he called to let me know." She informs, and Peter frowns, checks his wrist and sees his watch until he realizes its a normal one and he nods in understanding.

"Okay, I'll run back by there and then come home. Wait, why did he call you and not me?" His eyebrows furrow in confusion when he hears her scoff.

"He probably did; you just didn't realize it." Peter frowns and says his goodbye before checking his recents and finding that, yes, Tony called him two times before calling May.

"I gather that out little escapade is coming to an end?" Peter turns around to see the god lying on his back in the standard existential crisis position. Peter chuckles at the thought.

"Yeah, I left something in the lab before I kidnapped you." He explains shortly and stands up on the ledge, waiting for Loki to stand up as well. The god merely looks over at him with a raised brow, Peter makes a vague gesture, "Let's go?"

A few blocks away from the tower, the teen stops on the sidewalk, causing the trickster to look behind him when he finds no blabbering toddler next to him. Peter's spine is rigid and he's staring straight ahead, he's debating on something if the conflicted look on his face is anything to go by.

"What?" Loki asks, Peter takes a few steps forward and waves the god away, and it's evident that he isn't the teens main focus right now.

"Just give me a sec; I'll be right back." He starts jogging past the crowds and obviously Loki isn't just going to sit tight, so he follows Peter until he finds what Peter was worried about.

"Hey, man. Back off, she's not interested." The scrawny teen is standing confidently between a 20ish-year-old man and a something teen girl who is cowering behind Peter's shoulders. The man has a height advantage over Peter, but it looks like the teen isn't backing down even if he has to physically look up to make eye contact with the guy.

"Hey, kid. Why don't you back off; it's none of your business." Loki walks a little ways to the right and waves towards the girl to get her away from the situation in case it escalates. She scampers off, and the guy scowls after her before he turns back to Peter and shoves him against the wall. "What? You think _you_ could take it instead?" The teen's eyes widen, and the god is quick to step in. All he has to do is press two fingers against the man's temple, and he's out like a light.

Loki scoffs when he goes down and brushes off his shirt, "Weak mind. Not surprised." When he looks back at Peter, he's shaking slightly, probably because of the rush of adrenaline and anxiety. He steps away from the wall and looks up at Loki.

"Thanks." He says and looks down at the guy, "Is he..?"

"Dead? No." Peter sighs in relief, shakes his hands, breathes once and starts walking again, very pointedly stepping over the guy's collapsed body.

\----------

He's been sitting in the corner of the elevator for the past hour and a half, scaring the ever living crap out of everyone who steps in. Pepper almost hit him over the head with a clipboard within the first 15 minutes when he greeted her while she was distracted with her phone. Vision had walked in a few minutes later and stared blankly as he tried to process what the 17-year-old was doing. He never figured it out on their silent ride up.

He doesn't really know why the elevator felt safe at the moment, he usually hated the floating metal coffins, but at the moment he's perfectly content with leaning against the mirrors and eating apple sauce. Eventually, he does get bored, his phone died 10 minutes ago, and he's been stuck grinning at strangers who probably think he's a psychopath.

At some point (He's lost track of how long he's been in here), Wanda walks in and jumps at his unexpected presence, red mist swirling over her fingertips before she realizes it's him. She stands in the middle of the box as the doors close and looks down at him, "Hi, Peter?"

He waves with the spoon that he's successfully eaten 12 apple sauce cups with, "Hey, Wand." She smirks, and to his surprise, joins him on the elevator floor.

"Stressing about something?" He shrugs, chewing on the end of the spoon, probably destroying his teeth.

"I haven't seen my friends in a long time, we still talk 'nd everything, but it's not the same." The witch lays a gentle hand on his shoulder, giving him a small, close-lipped smile.

After a moment of silence, her eyes brighten, and she straightens, Peter looks over at her in confusion, "Oh! I have something you could do with me." He raises a suspicious brow as she stands up and offers him a hand, which he takes because his legs are asleep.

They go to her floor, and he glances around at the art pieces hanging on the walls. "I have so much clothing that I don't wear anymore, do you think you would be interested in it? If not, you can help me decide what to keep and what to donate."

"Uh, yeah, sure. I don't have many clothes; nothing fits me anymore." She smiles and walks into her room; Peter hesitantly follows behind. Wanda doesn't seem to notice because she's already opening the closet doors and tossing hanger after hanger onto her bed. Peter watches the colors fly past his vision and catches more than a few pieces of clothing from falling on the floor. Once she's seemingly satisfied with her remaining options, she closes the doors and turns around; red stained lips pulled into one of her bright smiles.

"Now for the fun part," She walks over to the heap of clothing and digs through it for a second, she comes up with a wine-colored sweater that's fuzzy and soft. The witch tosses it to him, and he rubs the fabric, drawing little shapes in it until another shirt is thrown at him.

"Okay, go try those on, if you don't like them just put them on the left side of the bed." He nods, he's not really used to this many options of clothing. Last time he went on a shopping spree was two years before Ben died.

He scampers off to the bathroom across the hall and tugs the sweater on first, smiling a the fluffiness and breathing space. It goes on for a while, back and forth across the hall, coming back to the room beaming in excitement each time. When he finally has a decent sized pile of folded shirts sitting on the bed, and a cardigan pulled on over his shoulders, he sits down, still grinning.

"Better than sitting in an elevator for hours?" Wanda jokingly asks. She's smiling too as she packs the rejected clothes into boxes to send to charities. Peter nods, and looks around, waiting patiently for Wanda to finish.

He spots a picture frame on her dresser and walks over with a curious frown, studying the photo tucked safely inside. The young girl in the photo is clearly Wanda, but someone is standing at her side who he doesn't recognize. He glances over at the redhead who's folding the cardboard flaps together, "Who's he?" She turns her head, and her face falls as she realizes what he's looking at.

"Oh." She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and walks over, studying the picture as well, "That is-was my twin brother." He notices the correction immediately and feels guilt hit his chest, "He's been gone for a while now." She tells him softly, and Peter nods, regretting ever standing up.

"I'm sorry." He nearly whispers, and she places a hand on his shoulder, pulling her lips back into a forced smile.

"It's okay." She pauses as she looks at the frame again, "He and you have a lot in common. Silly and self-sacrificing." Peter turns and offers a hesitant hug, Wanda gives a small, wavering laugh and curls her arms around his neck gently.

They break apart, and Peter asks if she can help with packing his own clothes up because they definitely won't fit in his bag. She smiles and goes to fetch another box. The teen glances at the two smiling kids in the photo and kind of wishes that he could've known Pietro Maximoff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end is coming very soon :(( so get ready to cry because I have some very sad plans.
> 
> criticism and opinions are always welcome
> 
> tumblr and Instagram: spiritxwolf
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Peter's birthday!!

Peter's birthday sneaks up on him very quickly, even if he has been saying that he's almost eighteen each time May or Tony calls him kid, it still comes as a surprise when he wakes up on August 10th to May singing Happy Birthday to him with a single cupcake in her hands. She sits on the edge of the bed and holds it for him as he blows out the candle on top before taking it from her and biting into the frosting, successfully getting it all over his lower face. She laughs with him and ruffles his hair with a fond look in her eyes, "18." She murmurs, with something close to sadness entwined into it.

" _Maay_." He groans dramatically but can't help but laugh as she pretends to wipe a tear away. They sit on his bed as he eats the cupcake and reminisce on old memories, something they've done every year since he was 9. It grows quiet after a few minutes and May sighs.

"You looks so much like your dad." She brushes a curl back from Peter's forehead as he picks at the cupcake wrapper. He casts a look up at her with shining eyes that remind his aunt of Ben.

"Really?" He asks, and May nods softly, folding her lips together as real tears gather in her eyes this time.

"Yeah, bud. You do." A tear does manage to slip out as she pulls her nephew into a tight hug. They stay there for a moment or two before she speaks again, "He would be so proud. _They_ would be so proud." Peter screws his eyes shut and squeezes her waist; she feels a tear fall on to her shoulder and says nothing. They pull away from each other and May cups Peter's face before placing a gentle kiss on his hairline before looking him in the eye, "Remember, just because you have a free day doesn't mean you can go off and get yourself killed, okay?" He laughs, and she smiles, patting his cheek before standing up.

"What time do you get off today?" He asks as she grabs the cupcake wrapper from his hands.

"11, maybe later." The corner of her mouth quirks up in an apologetic smile, and Peter knows that she feels guilty about having to leave him on his free day, so he just gives her one of his toothy grins before she kisses his head again and walks out.

Peter lays back down and stares at the ceiling for a while, he's 18, but he doesn't feel any different, even though he's now considered a legal adult in the US. He remembers Ben promising to let Peter have his first drink on his 18th birthday, and he remembers May smacking him with a dishtowel for saying it. Ben had winked as soon as his aunt had turned to go back into the kitchen. He laughs to himself at the memory and sits up, determined to have a little fun today.

He plans out his day half-heartedly as he pulls on his suit and mask, patrol first, lunch, tower, patrol, dinner, sleep. For some reason when he thinks of the route from Delmar's to the tower, so he doesn't have to think about it later, he doesn't consider the idea that his mentor knows about his birthday.

He thinks Ben is watching out for him because his patrol goes amazingly well, one guy tried to rob a convenience store, but that's the only thing that went wrong within 2 and a half hours. He changes in a back alley and stops by Delmar's for a sandwich and a soda, while his sandwich is being made, Delmar slides him a cheap birthday card and tells him his lunch is on the house. Peter doesn't ask how he knew it was his birthday; he just thanks him with a bright smile that lights up the shop and takes his bag and can of soda.

He throws his suit back on and climbs to the roof of a department store to eat, throwing down a couple of pieces of his sandwich to a stray dog hiding out behind a dumpster. Once his can is drained, and the bag is crumpled up in his fist he hops down and tosses it in the trash, offering a hand to the brown mutt who he quickly decides to call Sandwich.

His swing to the tower is full of flips and cheers; he signs at least fifteen autographs because people asked him to before carrying on. The people who glare at him or make a snarky remark either don't receive his attention or get a sarcastic wave in reply.

A few blocks away from his destination he decides to call Tony, just to make sure that he's not at a meeting in a different country. The billionaire picks up on the third ring, and he can hear shuffling in the background, "Hey, Mr. Stark! Just wanted to let you know that I'll be at the tower in a few minutes." He hears more shuffling before his mentor responds.

" _Hey, Pete, that's fine. I'm down in the lab right now. You're blowing up on twitter by the way_." Peter furrows his eyebrows at that and almost manages to run into a building but swerves right at the last second.

"Why?" Tony chuckles, and he can hear someone else's voice in the background, maybe Pepper or Bruce, he can't really tell.

" _Because of those autographs you handed out, everyone's freaking out about it._ " Tony is highly amused if his smug tone is anything to go by. " _Hear that, Nat? Your little boy is famous!_ " Natasha, he guesses she was the one he heard earlier, yells something in Russian at the remark. Tony laughs, even if he can't understand her, he knows it's something soccer moms would find offensive. Mostly because Bucky is there too and he throws his head back and cackles.

Peter can see the tower looming in the distance, so he disconnects the call and swings higher just to show off his acrobatics. So what? He's in a good mood. The tower gleams in the midday sunlight, and he lands on the helipad. He practically prances in, pulling his mask off to bask in the cool, air-conditioned room. He changes in the elevator because why not and steps into the lab, expecting to see it buzzing with its usual advanced technology and bright lights, but frowns when he sees it's dark and deserted.

He calls out a soft, "Hello?" and walks forward a few more steps before he decides that no ones in there despite Tony saying he was earlier. He walks back into the elevator frowning in confusion before heading back up to the common room instead. If the genius isn't in his lab, he's usually eating.

He feels anxiety spike in his chest for some reason when he starts walking down the corridor and pushes it aside, pressing his thumb against the access panel before pushing the door open. He stands in the doorway of the dark room and knows somethings off immediately because the windows are blacked out, he takes one more step and hits something on the ground before the lights flash on. A lot happens at once, and all he can process is colors and people. Once he blinks and takes in his surroundings of the balloons, buffet, and the smiling faces of the Avengers, he laughs and kicks the multicolored balloons at them.

There's a banner hanging over the bar with bright bubbles letters spelling out 'Happy Birthday, Spiderling!'. Below it lays an extravagant buffet of his favorite foods, including desserts. Ballons are covering every available surface, Avengers-themed balloons at that. There's ironman's helmet, Cap's shield, the hulk, Mjolnir, a purple arrow, and even a spider-web. Two balloons with an 18 on them are tied to chairs that both have a stack of presents and he gapes at that before turning back to the group of heroes.

Tony's at the front because of course he is. Steve, Natasha, Bucky, and Sam are all occupying the chairs at the bar. Wanda is grinning brightly from the side with Vision and Thor. Clint is sitting on the floor next to Natasha's feet, and Pepper is smiling from behind the bar with flour smudged on her shirt and cheek, and it doesn't take him long to process that she's the one who probably baked the sweets. It also doesn't take him long to notice the two non-hero faces in the room; he barely thinks as he moves to envelop his two best friends in a hug that's long overdue.

"Hey, you jerk, long time no see," MJ says into his shoulder and grins until his cheeks hurt as Ned squeezes all the air from his lungs. He pulls back but refuses to let his hands leave their shoulders, "Come on, now. You really think we'd abandon you on your birthday?" MJ rolls her eyes, and he realizes just how much he missed her sarcasm.

"I missed you, buddy. But I missed the Death Star more." Ned adds on to their sarcastic greetings with a cheeky grin. He asks how their respective trips were, and MJ complains about the heat of Florida while Ned gushes about the beauty of Venice.

"What? You're not gonna hug your old man?" Sam's voice interrupts, and he can hear Natasha slap him but he doesn't mind, he just turns his head to look at one of the newest Avengers.

"Didn't wanna break his back, I'm an adult now, y'know." Tony manages to accurately throw a cheez-it at Peter for the comment. Peter laughs and walks over to throw his arms around the billionaire before he can question himself. He mutters a thank you into Tony's suit jacket, and he just squeezes Peter once before backing up.

Clint jumps up from the floor and yells loudly, "Let them eat cake!" The entire group cheers and flocks towards the counter stocked full of food. Tony grabs a silly Ironman themed party hat and pops it on to Peter's head with a laugh.

Peter's surprise party goes on for who knows how long, and he really couldn't be happier. During the last few hours, he sits on the ground with a plate of cookies at his side and lets them shove their presents into his lap one-by-one. Clint demands his is opened first, and Peter has to laugh at the purple cats on the packaging. He tears it open to find navy blue boxing gloves and grins up at the archer; it was mentioned once that Peter wouldn't mind learning how to box.

Natasha hands him a smaller box that's wrapped in red and tied off with a velvet bow; he takes his time with the ribbon and packaging just because it looks like it took a while. He opens the clip holding the box closed and finds half of a jeweled spider web on a simple silver chain, he looks up at her, and she lifts her own necklace from underneath her shirt where the arrow would usually lay; instead, it's the other half of the jeweled web except in black. She smirks, "Spiders have to stick together, right?" he swears that he doesn't tear up as he stands to hug her.

"Aw, C'mon, Nat! You made him cry on his birthday!" Tony playfully teases, and she flicks his ear.

Steve offers his packaged present in a silent invitation and Peter takes it and pops the box open once the neat-ish wrapping is off, on one side is a stack of movies, the other has a stack of books. The captain knows that Peter is evenly split on his love for movies and books, and he also knows that he lacks severely in both. He thumbs through and finds the Harry Potter and Narnia series, as well as a few older classics, including Disney. He smiles and thanks the blond with a sincere smile.

Thor boasts from the back of the group that his present is the best, almost passive aggressively which Peter thinks is Tony's influence shining through. Clint and Bucky simultaneously stick their tongues out at the god as Peter accepts Thor's present from Wanda's hands. Peter knows that Pepper probably wrapped it just because he can't imagine Thor's large hands wrapping something so delicately. He tears off the bow and paper covered in lightning strikes and finds a miniature Mjolnir figure and a stack of weathered leather books with runes on the spines that imply that they're from Asgard. He smiles with his eyes gleaming as he plucks the first one out and flips through it, it's a book to learn the runes so he can read the rest and his grin widens impossibly further. He finds a small note at the bottom of the box saying that the books are from Loki and he looks at Thor who has a knowing smile on his face.

Sam's gift is a spider-themed drone, state of the art with cameras. He tells the group that Rhodey pitched in and Tony grins. Peter messes with it, fingers twitching with a desire to pick it apart to see how it works before putting it back together again. Tony flicks his ear when he notices.

Bucky hands over a packaged knife in a sheath. The leather sheath itself has zigzag patterns carved on the seams, and the handle has spiderweb designs down the middle of both sides. Bucky grins at Tony when the brunet glares at him, "Calm down, half-pint. I'm not going to teach him how to knife fight; it's just for emergencies." Peter admires it's craftsmanship and notices that Natasha is nodding her approval of it as well, so he knows it's good.

Wanda has a small smile on her face as she hands over three small boxes stacked on top of each other. They're all wooden and shiny, with gold clasps holding the two halves together. He opens each to find a leather set containing a necklace with a crystal pendant, a bracelet with a horseshoe charm, and a ring with a glowing red gem. There's a tag on the necklace's box that explains that each item has magic wound into it. The necklace's pendant has calming energy to help him through his hard days with anxiety and sensory overloads. The bracelet's charm is for good luck, hence the horseshoe. The glowing red gem in the ring attracts good energies and success. He smiles and puts all three on, offering a hug to Wanda who accepts.

Vision sets a very nicely wrapped package in front of him; Peter finds French, German, and Italian cookbooks underneath. Vision speaks in his formal voice that matches Jarvis', "Miss Potts mentioned that you were interested in European cultures. Since I assume that you will be moving to college soon, I thought you might want to learn how to cook a few meals." Peter feels a rush of anxiety at the mention of college but his excitement of learning to cook foods from different countries overrides it, and he thanks the Andriod, who nods politely.

Both Ned and MJ set two boxes down, Ned's are wrapped in blue wrapping paper with pugs on it, and MJ's has rainbows. He can tell their clothing boxes just from their size and excitedly rips away, finding two pastel outfits in MJ's boxes, "I know how much you love your pastel colors, Parker." She smirks because she sees him take in the pink, purple, and blue color scheme of both. It's subtle and so thoughtful that he can't help but force her down into a hug.

Ned's are graphic tees with stupid, nerdy jokes on them, the type that Peter loves and wears constantly. There's eight total, and Peter does their handshake at Ned's request after he's gone through all of them.

Pepper hands him a leather journal and he flips through the empty pages, inside the cover explains that it can be a sleep journal or just something document his good or bad days. Underneath the book is a too-nice suit jacket, dress pants, and a white button up, along with a pair of shoes. "I thought you'd need something like this, in case you want to go to a school dance or something." He thanks her and goes over the suit again, it was probably very expensive. Clint seems to think so too based on his low whistle.

Finally, Tony claps loudly, and he can hear Natasha sigh, Steve mutter a quiet 'oh no,' Pepper rubs the bridge of her nose, and Clint smirks. Tony grabs all five presents that Peter just knows are all irrationally expensive. He sets them in order of biggest to smallest and grins, "Take your pick, Spider-baby." Peter gazes up at him in exaggeration before picking up the second smallest. He doesn't know what he's expecting, but he really isn't expecting a sleek phone in a clear, plastic box with no label, which means-

"Yep! Custom-made Stark phone just for you. High-speed wi-fi and unlimited data plan. Directly connected to Jarvis and Karen, already programmed contacts of all Avengers, Pepper, Happy, Ned, MJ, and May. Also, built-in study guides and hologram projector, as well as water-proof and unbreakable!" Peter gapes, and almost loses his breath as he stares down at the phone in his hand.

"Mr. Stark, I ca-" Tony wags his finger in dismissal.

"You can, and you will. Next present!" Peter gently places the phone next to him despite Tony telling him that it's unbreakable and chooses the smallest box next, hoping that smaller means less expensive. He gently pulls the paper off and pops the box open.

It's keys. _Car_ keys. _Expensive_ car keys. _Aston Martin_ car keys.

"Mr. Stark!" Peter sqeaks out, and Tony smiles, "I can't even _drive_ yet!" Tony waves him off once again.

"You'll learn, besides I basically got it for free, they love me." Pepper is looking at the ceiling in exasperation.

Peter decides to go the opposite of what he was planning on doing and goes for the biggest option. He stands up to start stripping the box of its very bright wrapping paper and stands back once he sees it. It's an HD Stark flatscreen TV. Probably worth more than his entire life. So far, all of these presents have been more expensive than his life. He puts his hands on top of the box and stares at Tony who's smiling like a maniac. Peter decides not to object to the stupidly high-priced present and moves on.

The second largest is an entire wardrobe worth of clothes, which wouldn't be as bad if they weren't all designer. Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Versace brands all stare back at him. Tony points to the classic white Gucci tennis shoes, "Those are my favorite." Peter sets his forehead on the box's edge and breathes once, twice, three times. He hears Sam and Natasha snicker.

He moves on to the last box, the size of a briefcase that intimidates him way more than it should. He carefully tears the wrapping off and takes in the words printed on the box, _Iron Spider._

"Nanotech Spiderman suit, you guessed it!" He does jazz hands as Peter slowly opens the clipped case and nanobots form the red and gold spiderman suit in front of him. His mouth is hanging open, and he can't seem to close it. There's _no way_ Tony is expecting him to take this on patrol; he turns his eyes to the billionaire. Peter thinks he finally understands what that word means.

"It's only for missions, you can still wear your classic red and blue on patrols, but this is ten times safer for the types of things an _Avenger_ needs to do." Peter's jaw drops further, and he can hear Ned's sharp intake of breath and sees Natasha and Bucky's mouths quirk up.

"You know it's August, not April, right?" Peter asks, his voice sounds choked and Wanda laughs behind him.

"Dude, _shut up_ ," Ned whispers frantically, and Peter shakes his head, trying to get his ricocheting thoughts under control. He moves on autopilot and wraps his arms around Tony's waist, his mentor wraps his arms around Peter's shoulders and places a hand on the back of Peter's head.

Peter rests his head against Tony's shoulder and stays like that for a while before he hears Clint call for a group hug, and the rest of them wrap their arms around each other in the middle of the common room, at least a million dollars worth of presents surrounding them.

\--------

It's later, around 5, and Peter has successfully bulldozed through the assortment of foods. He went down to the garage to see what his keys belonged to and almost passed out at the sight of the black sports car. His phone is pocketed safely in his jeans, and the entire group is watching all of the movies that Steve gifted him.

Half-way through Dumbo, Tony calls Peter into the corridor. Peter tenses up at the sight of his mentor standing with his hands behind his back, obviously hiding something from him. "Mr. Stark, if you give me something over 5,000 bucks, _I swear_ I'm gonna pass out," Tony smirks a little apologetically, and Peter knows that this secret gift is probably over $100,000.

Tony beckons him closer before handing him a stack of papers that are rolled up with a rubber band around them. He gently pries it off and lets the papers fall open in his hands. He sees the top and almost starts crying, a hand flies over his mouth, and he sucks in a shaky breath.

It's an acceptance letter to MIT on a full ride scholarship. Tears streak their way down Peter's cheeks, and he looks up at Tony who's glowing with pride and happiness. Peter really can't help but throw his arms around Tony for the third time that day. He chokes out a thank you and then repeats it, muffled against the brunet's shoulder.

He doesn't have to worry about college anymore; he can graduate high school without anxiety gnawing away at his chest for what comes next. He squeezes Tony tighter.

\----------

It's dark by the time he's walking home, his shoes don't make any sound on the busy sidewalks of New York, and he's thinking about how lucky he is when his brand new Stark phone rings in his pocket. He ducks behind a corner of an alley to get away from the push and noise of the small crowd and answers the unknown number.

"Is this Peter Parker?" It's a polite, soft voice and it makes anxiety and cold, hard fear latch onto his chest and curl through his stomach.

"Yes?" His voice breaks, he pretends it doesn't happen as silence on the other line grows.

"Peter, this is the New York-Presbyterian Queens hospital."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops?
> 
> Criticism and opinions are always welcome.
> 
> official Instagram and tumblr: spiritxwolf
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sadness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you guys all yell at me for shattering your hearts, I just have to let you know that writing this fic was such an amazing experience and the comments made me smile so much and the amount of kudos that I got on a weekly basis inspired me to write even more. I still feel bad for dropping off the face of the earth more than a couple of times, but it always worth coming back and seeing your guys' amazing reactions. I love Peter Parker and I love the idea of him being the heart and soul of the Avengers team. I'm sorry I just loved writing this so much <3333

The waiting room of a hospital has to be in Peter's top five worst places on earth. It's too clean, and everyone's sad or anxious, plus the white floors and walls don't mix very well with the fluorescent lights that are currently giving Peter a headache. He's been in here for who knows how long and he's so tired, but the last thing on his mind is sleep.

A nurse with a syrupy sweet voice laced with too much pity, updated him on his aunt's condition when he first sprinted through the doors and raced up to the front desk with wide eyes and shaking hands. He hasn't heard from anyone in hours. May is still in the intensive care unit, all she could tell him was that she had severe head damage and multiple broken bones, he doesn't know what else they've discovered since he's been here. He texted Tony to tell him that he's in the hospital and not to come because he's fine. The billionaire had protested heavily but eventually seemed to trust Peter's judgment of his own mental state enough to stay in Manhattan.

The dark gray hospital chairs that force you to sit up too straight are making the muscles in his back scream at him. His leg is bouncing up down even with the weight of his elbow resting on it; he's gotten more than a few curious and pitiful glances from the other waiting guests in the room. Each time a doctor or nurse pushes open the intimidating metal doors, he tries not to jump up. He hangs his head as a woman across the room bursts into tears and tries to breathe; it only works for a few seconds before his anxiety comes crawling back. The woman is sat back down into the chair she was in before, and a nurse has a hand on her shoulder, talking to her in a soothing tone that seems to be doing nothing.

Most people are escorted through the metal doors; only a couple are guided out of the building and handed a business card with a therapist's number on it. Peter rubs the bridge of his nose; his eyes are burning due to the overexposure of the lights and the lack of sleep. All of the food that he shoved in his mouth a few hours earlier threatens to come back up, and he sighs, remembering that it's his goddamn birthday. Well, it was his birthday. It's 1:00 AM now.

He feels a surge of rage flood his chest, masking the anxiety for a brief moment. A hit and run. The words in his mind leave a bitter taste on his tongue. He's glad the idiot got away, Peter's not sure what he would've done if he hadn't.

Another 45 minutes pass and more people are led through the doors, Peter lays down across the empty chairs next to him and glares up at the ceiling. He closes his eyes after a brief moment because the light is making them sting. For a second, he actually breathes, relaxes because it's finally quiet in the solemn room. That is until the doors burst open and he's sitting up fast enough to give himself a head rush. Another patient is hooked up to a gurney and pushed down the hallway, out of Peter's view.

His phone buzzes on the chair next to him, and he reluctantly picks it up, finding a message from Clint, which makes him even warier.

_Barton: im coming to the hospital_

_Peter: you dont have to_

_Barton: im bringing lila_

Peter sighs, he doesn't want a little girl seeing him like this, especially when it's her first time meeting him. He knows not to argue with Clint though and doesn't ask why his niece isn't asleep. He watches the minute hand tick away on the clock that's across the room until the archer walks in, holding the hand of Lila. Clint offers a lopsided smile and sits down without a word, placing a hand on the newly declared adult's shoulder. The little blonde shuffles over to stand in front of him and offers the tiniest hand in existence to hold. He chuckles and feels tears well in his eyes, but accepts the comfort with a tight, close-lipped smile. Lila smiles in return, then places a small teddy-bear in his lap that he squeezes it to his stomach with his free arm.

Either the little girl is very smart, or Clint gave her an explicit explanation of what's happening because she doesn't ask why he's crying or not talking. She only climbs into the chair next to him and leans her little blonde head on to his bicep.

It's 4:30 AM and Lila is curled up in the chair, asleep. Clint was smart enough to go get two styrofoam cups of crappy hospital coffee from the cafeteria to give them both a little burst of energy to get through the night.

Finally, after 7 exhausting, anxiety-filled hours, a doctor in blue scrubs walks towards the trio. "Mr. Parker?" Peter stands up at his name on shaky legs and nods. "I'm Dr. Keller, your aunt has experienced severe head trauma and internal bleeding. She's in a coma currently, but stable. You're welcome to come see her now." Peter wrings his hands together and nods, following the doctor through the doors that he's seen swing shut so many times throughout the night.

Some of the doors are open, and Peter can see people sitting next to beds, holding the hands of their loved ones or asleep in the stiff looking orange chairs. May is on the third floor, still in the ICU. Peter pushes open the door and releases a shuttering breath at the sight. He walks further in before he starts crying and pulls a chair up to her bedside. She has a machine helping her breathe and needles connected to her veins. She's pale and gaunt and has a bandage wrapped around her head. He's never even thought about his aunt as ever being weak, but that's what she looks like now. Vulnerable and barely clinging to life, machines and needles helping her stay alive.

Keller leaves the room with a gentle click of the door, and Peter grabs her cold hand, clasping his own over her fingers in an attempt to warm it. He scrunches his eyes closed and feels hot tears tracking down his face, his chest aches horribly and more tears spill over on to his cheeks. He hangs his head and lets his forehead rest lightly against the back of the hand he's holding, gasping through the rough sobs that shake his entire body.

The tears finally manage to drain the last of his remaining energy, and he dozes off with his head resting on the sheets next to his aunt's hand that he refuses to let go of.

\----------

Clint wakes him four hours later, somehow getting in the room despite not being related to either of them. He hands over a yellow and white McDonald's bag, and Peter sighs as he sits up. His eyes feel puffy, and his back lets out a horrible creak from the uncomfortable position that he bent himself into. He finds a large order of fries and a 25-count of nuggets that confuses him, but he doesn't ask.

The normally salty fries are dry and tasteless in his mouth, but he's hungry and forces himself to eat past his non-appetite. Clint brought up Peter's abandoned teddy-bear from the waiting room and it's sitting on the bedside table next to some flowers that he guesses are also from Clint.

"Where's Lila?" Peter croaks out and winces at the rough sound, a side-effect of the crying and exhaustion. Clint drags a different chair up to sit next to Peter and shrugs.

"My sister picked her up 30 minutes ago." Peter sighs again, shoves another tasteless fry into his mouth and leans heavily against Clint's side, his eyes never straying from May's pale face. The archer wraps an arm around Peter's back and squeezes his shoulder in comfort. It's quiet for a few moments where the only sound is the ticking of the clock and Peter's teeth clacking together before Clint breaks it, "Do you know what happened?"

"Hit and run," Peter grumbles the answer out, and the words make his stomach churn with anger once again. Clint huffs with what sounds like frustration and squeezes Peter's shoulder once again. They fall back into a heavy silence, and he feels grief push down on his chest again, resulting in another batch of tears filling his eyes.

He closes his eyelids and feels one fall but ignores it in favor of trying to doze off again, most of his meal still sitting untouched on his lap.

\----------

On May's seventh day of her coma, her heart rate picks up drastically, and Peter is forced out of the room while nurses rush in. He opts to stay right outside the door while having a panic attack, clutching the crystal pendant on his necklace. He really can't breathe, and it only makes him panic more, the shouting of the nurses and frantically beeping machines aren't helping in the slightest. Finally, the door opens, and he can finally suck in a full breath into his lungs, the nurse helps him up and get his breathing back under control before letting him back into the room.

He stumbles back in because his knees are threatening to give out beneath him, and falls into the chair he hasn't left in 3 days and slides his fingers back through May's. He listens to the machine counting her now steady heartbeats in beeps and calls Tony, asking if he can come sit with Peter for an hour or two. The brunet gets there in 10 minutes and pushes past all the doctors to get to May's room.

He sits next to Peter and gently pulls him into a hug, a hand placed on the back of his head when Peter lets himself fall forward on to the billionaire's shoulder.

\----------

The next time it happens, it's in the middle of her third week in the hospital. He's shoved out of the room once again, left to panic silently on the tile floors, leaning against the wall. When it takes longer for the door open than last time, he calls the first person he clicks in his contacts. Wanda picks up, worry seeping through the phone.

The witch helps him with his breathing, and he clutches the pendant around his neck once again. He's shaking and almost drops the phone but manages to steady himself enough to stand back up.

" _Would you like me to come keep you company_?" She asks softly, and Peter takes a few more seconds to breathe, trying his best to block out the shuffling footsteps of the doctors inside his aunt's room.

"Yeah. Yes, please." He whispers and collapses back onto the hospital floor once she hangs up.

Wanda shows up 15 minutes later and finds Peter still sitting, leaning against the wall next to the open door of the hospital room. He looks up at her as she approaches and his eyes look puffy and exhausted, "I was afraid that I would have another panic attack if I went in alone." He explains in a faint murmur. Wanda makes a small noise and helps him stand, wrapping him in a tight hug once he's steady on his feet. He buries his face into the cloth of her shirt and makes sure to remember how to breathe.

She walks into the room with him, a gentle hand on his shoulder when she sees his eyes start to blur with tears once he sees his aunt laying motionless on the sheets.

"She's getting weaker," He states in a scared voice, Wanda grabs the hand that isn't occupied with May's and makes him look at her.

"We have to stay positive, okay? You'll get through this." He nods, and she squeezes his hand.

\----------

Steve and Natasha are there with him on her sixth week. He should be in school by now, but Tony has somehow convinced them to let him do his work online so he can stay with May. He's securely tucked against Nat's side, one of her arms wrapped around his shoulders while the other cards through his hair gently.

May's heart rate starts to pick up like it's started doing a lot more recently, and Natasha guides him out of the room while the nurses push past them. Steve comes back with a couple of grainy muffins, and they're leaning against the wall, waiting for the door to open again. Steve gives Peter an understanding look when he rejects the muffin and hands it to the redhead instead.

It takes a lot longer than usual which makes Peter's own heart rate pick up until his mind is overrun with panic when a monotonous ringing sounds inside of the room and he doesn't register ever running towards the door. He doesn't register that he's screaming his throat raw. He hits the door once before Steve has the chance to pull him back, turning him away and letting the panicked eighteen-year-old fight and scream against his chest.

When the ringing is the only sound left inside the room, Peter collapses against Steve's chest, sobbing so hard that he's barely breathing. Natasha's cold hands gently turn him towards her so that she can cradle his head against her collarbone. He's letting out repeated, broken, _no's_ against her shirt, and she closes her eyes and feels tears of her own slip down her face. Natasha pulls him closer and presses her lips against the side of his head.

\----------

Her funeral is held in late September, a week after her official time of death. The sky is bleak and gray, like how Peter has felt for the past 7 days. He has both of the necklaces from Wanda and Nat hanging around his neck, and he's gripping them both like a lifeline as he stands under the tent. Her coffin is closed, and there's a bouquet of white roses sitting on top of it. Ben's family is there, people that Peter hasn't seen since Ben's own funeral. A few people from May's side of the family are there as well, even if she never talked to them.

He asked Tony and Natasha to come with him, he wouldn't have been able to stand in front of May underneath a tent full of strangers without running away. They listen to Ben's sister make a speech about her and then one of May's cousins that Peter didn't even know existed talks about her for a minute or two. The atmosphere in the cemetery is heavy and awkward, and no one really knows what to say. They all keep glancing at him like he's a broken alien, which is what he feels like.

A few people leave after ten more minutes of silence, he waits for the rest so he can visit Ben's headstone that's going to be next to hers. It only takes 5 more minutes before everyone disperses and then they start lowering the coffin into the ground. Peter walks a couple of feet away and kneels at Ben's grave, laying a hand on the top of it and talking to him in his head. Hoping he's well, he makes a sad joke that he's not alone anymore, where ever he is.

Finally, Peter stands, and they're filling the six-feet hole in dirt. He watches with a faraway look in his eyes until Tony's hand lands lightly on his shoulder. The billionaire doesn't say anything, and Peter sighs heavily because Tony's there.

He's _there,_ and _real_ , and _alive_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love you guys <3
> 
> criticism and opinions are always welcome
> 
> go follow my tumblr and instagram you cowards: spiritxwolf
> 
> Spirit_Wolf


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